Animal City
by MidnightStarr
Summary: While Kenny is away,an accident happens to turn Tyson into a guinea pig,Max into a puppy,Ray into a cat,and Kai into a bunny! Can Hilary and Mariam help them? And can the animals help the girls?
1. I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

It started out as a pretty normal day. The BladeBreakers would salvage what they could after Tyson inhales breakfast, do some training and sit around making jokes at Kai's expense. Kai would pulverize them, yada yada yada... Then things took a turn for the worse. In an insanely humiliating and funny way.

* * *

"Kenny! What the hell are you doing up there!? It's been days and you haven't even called!" Tyson yelled from the bottom of the Tamea house's stairs. It turns out that Kenny hadn't been at the dojo for quite some time, and the whole team was curious as to why. Max needed a new blade. Ray wanted to know where his friend was. Tyson was starting to miss the clicking sound of Kenny's fingers on Dizzi's keyboard. Kai wanted some help in designing a new training routine; whoopee... Anyway, Tyson and the rest of the Bladebreakers waited for an answer.

"I'm here guys!" Came the reply. Tyson shrugged and lead the way up the flight of stairs. Max opened the door casually, and walked in to find a surprise. Kenny's room looked half empty. Except for a table of weird looking glowing vile. There were suitcases littering the floor. Kenny happened to be sitting on one actually, trying to force it closed. He was having a lot of trouble doing so.

"So, hi guys! Glad you came. We 're going on vacation! Dad decided we needed 'family time' and is taking me and Mom to Hong Kong! That's why I haven't been over in the last few days. The anticipation is overwhelming! Anyhow, we'll be gone for a week or two. You guys can survive for _that_ long without me and Diz can't ya?" Kenny said happily.

"I dunno Chief... Kai might get irritated and kill everyone." Dizzi inquired from the labtop, sitting on Kenny's bed.

"Uh, yah, I guess... But you better not be any longer than two weeks! Our tournament's coming up!" Tyson said, brandishing Dragoon proudly.

"Aw, don't worry guys! I left all my training info and data with Hilary! I already told her this morning, and she'll be over soon see, I'm leaving... In two hours. That's why packing was such a rush. I only had two days. I've decided to leave my keys with you guys. I want you all to stay here after I leave and wait for Hilary; And feed my cats while the we're away." The whole room, minus Kai, having to put up with Hilary and not having a Chief to calm her down when she got ecstatic spelt danger with a capital D.

"I see where you're going with this. Hilary's gonna meet us over here, so we wait 'till she comes... Which is...?" Ray finished, sending Kenny a curious look.

"In 2 and a half hours. But, I'll leave in about an hour and a half, while you guys stay here and wait for her. But when you leave the house, don't forget to lock the doors and windows, feed my cats, water the plants, and for the LOVE OF GOD, **DO NOT TOUCH MY EXPERIMENTS!**" Kenny said rather warningly, while pointing at the table the team noticed earlier. "I'm working on serums to reduce furball urges for cats. Not doing anything with it until it's stable (which will be in about 3-4 weeks), could result in hideous, unknown side effects! So DON'T GO NEAR IT!" the Chief yelled, the team wide eyed. They managed a slight nod, just to show they understood.

The next hour and so on went rather calmly, Kenny helping the guys with whatever problems they had during said time. Then came the shout from Kenny's Dad, and after a few goodbyes and a 'hmph' from Kai, the Tameas were off to catch their plane. The BladeBreakers still had an hour to waste, so they lounged around Kenny's room and just talked.

"Have any of you noticed something different about Mariam from the SaintShields? She seemed far away the other day. And the day before that." Max sighed, deep in conversation, for some reason, made Kai open his eyes curiously and stare at the blonde.

"I'm pretty sure that it's none of our girl is weird. What's bothering her could simply be nothing less then something." Kai said in fact, returning to his usual position against the green wall. Max sighed again, and got off the floor and wandered over to Kenny's experiment table along side Tyson.

"Max, Tyson, Kenny told us to stay away from those!" Ray shouted once he saw Tyson pick a light blue glowing vile up and shake it quickly. Ray got up from his leaning against the bed and went up behind Tyson to grab the vile. Max had to laugh when Ray held the vile slightly out of Tyson's reach. But the hyper active kid also saw his chance at mischief. He held a beaker of lavender purple, and acted as if he were drinking the liquid. Tyson turned and laughed, which triggered Kai's alert. He slightly ran over and tried to get Max to give him the vile. But instead, accidentally poured it over Max.

The blonde felt estranged immediately, and fell to his knees. Tyson, alarmed, broke from Ray's grasp and also spilt the blue goo on himself. The same was happening to Tyson as he fell to his knees in pain. Ray tried to bend down to help his fallen comrades, and accidentally bumped his head on the hard table. The two remaining tubes, of black and red, covered Ray and Kai. Then about one minute of screaming agony, and there was a pink cloud. But after the dust had settled, lay a cat, a guinea pig, a puppy and a rabbit.

"BARK BARK! BARK BARK BARK!" What used to be Max said. The blonde was now a lower -than-knee height dark brown puppy.

"MEOW!" Ray had turned into a white and black tomcat.

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK SQUEAK!" The fat little Tyson\rodent uttered.

"..." The cold hearted Kai-now-turned-bunny said nothing, but looked around in distaste. Utter distemper. And that was when they heard the Tamea's front door open and a familiar female voice.

"Tyson? Kai? You guys, it's me, Hilary!" She said, prancing up the stairs cheerily. She almost had a heart attack when she saw Dragoon, Dranzer, Driger and Draciel sitting next to a bunch of animals. Let's jut say it didn't take Hilary a long time to figure the whole thing out. Kenny had warned _her _of the experiments too, and seeing the broken viles and no Bladebreakers besides pets, she understood perfectly.

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO??????" She screamed, causing Kai to inadvertedly bend one ear and flinch. "Okay, okay, breathe.. Breathe..." It seemed to Hilary that she couldn't understand what the animals were saying, but they could understand eachother and what _she_ was also saying. Just when she noticed a blue haired teen walking outside.

"MARIAM!" Hilary dashed across the road, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a car and dragged the SaintShield into the house.

"Woah, woah, what the **fuck** is your problem?!" Mariam said objectively before Hilary pointed to the zoo sitting behind her. Really, it didn't take Mariam very long either. She bent down, and immediately the puppy bounded into her arms. "...Max?" She asked while lifting the dog into the air above her head. A cheerful bark told her all she needed to know then. She picked up the guinea pig which felt kinda heavy. That alone gave it away. Next was the cat. It rubbed against Mariam's ankles, and she stroked it gently. "Wow... Ray?" The kitty purred, looking up at the 2 girls with those same golden eyes. She tried to pick up the rabbit next, but it jumped out of her reach. Mariam sneered. "Kai".

"Mariam, what are we gonna do? Kenny won't be back for a week or so, and I don't know how to reach him! He should be on his plane right now!" Hilary quivered, worry evident in her voice. The one thing the chocolate eyed female had to admit was that the miniature wildlife park was really cute. The guinea pig especially. "Ok, ok.. Look, I have to go and feed Kenny's cats and water the plants. Can you keep an eye on them for me? After that, you need to help me come up with a place to keep them. My mom won't let me have pets!" Hilary said. Mariam sighed, and nodded.

'Oh, how do I get myself into these things?' She and Hilary were left to deal with the funny farm while Kenny got to go on a jet plane and a vacation; _Is this ever gonna be a fun few weeks..._

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OKAY! DONE! Please review!


	2. Your Own Disaster

Mariam sat on Kenny's love seat facing sideways with her feet over the edge. Luckily she wasn't wearing her usual uniform, or she'd be giving the 'boys' a good view of her private area. Instead she was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans that flattered her hips and a black shirt with converse all-starz shoes. She was never one for dressing girly.

The brown puppy, or Max, whimpered softly and walked over to the chair where Mariam was. She looked down at him emotionlessly.

"Man, you guys really stepped in it this time. What if you guys are stuck like this forever? Oh, what fun _that_ would be... And what do_ you_ want?" She said. The puppy looked away for a second before attempting to jump on the fell back to the floor with a delightful thud.

"I guess you need to grow a couple inches before you do anything so high as 2 feet off the floor Maxie." Mariam said comically. The dog barked before trying to jump up again. Mariam sighed and turned away. Max looked back toward Kai the white rabbit worriedly. Little Maxie, and I do mean_ little_, could tell something was wrong. Kai hopped away and onto the bed away from the rest of the team. He sure cared.

Tyson slowly glomped back to the door when Hilary stepped into the room. She picked him up and placed him on her shoulder.

"So," Hilary said, beginning to pick up the remains of broken glass, "how have you been? No one has seen the SaintShields in a while." She finished, helping the fat rodent on her shoulder keep his balance. Before Mariam got a chance to answer, a loud rumbling filled the room.

"What in God's name was that?" Mariam questioned.

"Believe it or not, that was Tyson's stomach. I think they're hungry." Hilary grinned. Mariam was a little more estranged.

"I don't think it's healthy for a creature of that size to make such a loud noise." Mariam sneered. It almost looked as if Tyson had gritted his teeth angrily.

"We have to go and buy some food for them. I think PetMart should have everything we need. But what are we gonna do with these guys while we're gone?" Hilary asked while petting Ray gently.

"Geeze, why don't _you _stay here with them, and I'll go food shopping? I think I might be able to con Ozuma, Dunga and Joseph into letting me have a couple 'friends' over for a week or 2." Mariam said, flipping her blue strands. Hilary breathed a sigh of relief before digging in her pocket for whatever money she had. Broke.

"You think you could cover it? I'll pay ya back, promise." The brunette said. Mariam nodded before walking down the steps and out the door.

Hilary giggled softly before turning on the TV. She layed sideways on Kenny's bed, staring intently. Kai looked at her annoyingly. He clearly didn't like sharing the bed. He hobbled farther away from Hilary, which she affectionately stuck her tongue out at him for. Max, with a helping hand from Hilary, hoisted himself onto the bed and layed on the opposite side of her. Tyson needed to be lifted onto the bed, so Ray carefully picked the brown and white guinea pig up between his teeth and made the leap to land beside Hilary. Tyson got out of Ray's grasp and somehow found his way to sitting on Hilary's head.

"Tyson for the love of God if you need to use the washroom lemme know." Hilary said jokingly. A small squeak signified that Tyson also found it funny.

Meanwhile, Mariam trudged through the aisles of PetMart, trying to find the food section. Finally she came across the rodent foods and picked the guinea pig diet. She thought that was quite efficient for Tyson. She got Ray some Whiskas, Max some Hartz and Kai some rabbit food in a brand she didn't know. It came to $13.24, so Mariam payed the cashier and waltzed out without a word. When she returned to Kenny's, she found a sleeping Hilary with a sleeping guinea pig, strangely on her head, a snoozing dog, and a cat having a catnap. She assumed Kai was also asleep.

But he wasn't exactly. The Russian rabbit watched as Mariam placed the food on the desk and resumed her usual position on Kenny's love seat after taking the remote and switching the TV channels. As far as Mariam knew, Kai was asleep. So she tilted her head back and sighed, stretching. That was when she pulled a small notebook out of her back pocket. Once she dug a pen out of Kenny's desk, she began to write.

You could say Kai was surprised when he saw a tear roll down her pale cheek. Just one tear, just one tear the whole time she was writing. And after about half an hour, Mariam also slipped off to sleep. Kai saw his chance. As softly as he could, he bounded off the bed and onto the edge of the chair. He carefully pulled the silver notebook out of Mariam's hand and began to read. It read;

_My need for death grows stronger every day. It seems like everyone has forgotten. Friends? Haven't a single one. My brother even lacks understanding in my case. Ozuma? All I am to him is a piece of work. Dunga? We just draw the line that we don't get along. Basically when it comes to the SaintShields, I'm the weakest link. I'll always be the weakest link. Every day that goes by seems to add more pain. But not to worry; Everyone just thinks of me as a thing to lie around and clutter up their shelves. But right now, I happen to be in Kenny's house. Apparently Hilary fucked up and turned the BladeBreakers into animals. Even worse, I agreed to help her out. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I don't even wear the uniform anymore. It'll be personal expression from now on. I don't really want to help, I want to be alone. And no matter how many times Joseph says that there are people who care. I know he cares. But he doesn't understand! Forget Me; It's that simple. It's not like the world will be any worse off if I'm dead. Would anybody, besides him, care if I died? I doubt it. I have no direction in life; No plan; No map or guidance to keep me here. It's like I'm alone at a crossroads. I want to kill myself. And eventually, I will. Only because they won't listen. My songs, my music is my only escape._

Under that, Kai noticed lyrics. He was a little too stunned to read them. But he did get a few:_ 'And I, I don't wanna speak these words; Cuz I, I don't wanna make things any worse._' Kai was mortified. Everything was explained; Everything. Why Mariam hadn't been acting like herself, why Max sensed worry...

But Kai knew he could do nothing at this point. All he hoped, was that she could hold on until he changed back into a human.

An hour passed, and Mariam awoke from her slumber just as Hilary did. The two girls both sat up and yawned. Hilary groggily walked over to the desk and put a different type of food in each bowl. Mariam sighed and looked at the clock. She had but an hour to get home. Judging by Hilary's facial expression, she had to be home soon too.

"Ok, Mariam you said that you could take the guys right? I have to-" she stopped to gulp, "go home soon." Hilary felt the knot in her stomach tighten. She hated home. And people wondered why Hilary slept at Tyson's most nights? Well, the poor brunette had no escape.

"I guess, but don't you think you could take at least one?" Mariam said a little annoyed. "I'm not running a zoo you know." The girl said.

"Nope." Hilary said rather quickly. It looked as if the chocolate-eyed girl had seen a ghost. She was paler than Mariam, and she was beginning to sweat. The blunette cocked an eyebrow at this, but turned and watched the boys eating.

"I wonder what dog chow tastes like." Mariam smirked. Max sent her a death glare but continued to eat. After the guys were finished, Mariam grabbed the bag of remaining food and scooped Tyson into her arms. Once again, she tried to get Kai who got away. She sighed and walked out the front door. Minutes later Hilary also left and got home at about 11.

Hilary silently closed the door of her house and was about to turn around when someone violently pushed her to the floor.

"Where the hell have you _been!_? It's fuckin 11 o'clock in the night!!" The loud voice boomed. Hilary whimpered and tried to stand, only to be slapped harshly. "GET TO YOUR ROOM, AND DON'T COME DOWN ANYMORE TONIGHT!" Her father said, as he walked into the den and took a seat on the couch. An hour later, an empty beer bottle dropped to the floor from the man's hand.

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Please review guys!! It would really make me happy!


	3. Like Swimming Circles

Hilary layed on her bed, face into the pillow, tears dampening the lime green fabric. Why did everything have to be so horrible? Why did life have to be so unfair? Ever since the accident, all her father did was drink constantly. And that meant pain. She sat upright and rubbed her cheek that was still searing. Her tanned skin was now a bright red in result from the harsh slap. It wasn't her fault she looked like her mother! It wasn't her fault that Hil's mom left them alone. It's not her fault! And she had no one to lean on. Hilary didn't want to dump all that responsibility on Mariam... She would've gladly taken Tyson the guinea pig or Ray the cat home. But her dad would kill the poor girl. And Hilary didn't want them to see her like torn and bruised and helpless.

She loved her dad, she did... But things were getting out of control. She walked over to her stereo and turned the knob slowly, adjusting the volume and switching the song to 'Confessions Of A Broken Heart' by Lindsay Lohan. That song really helped her. It was almost the same situation, and it gave Hilary new hope. Hope for something better. She wiped away another stray tear and opened her bedside table drawer, rooting around for some paper. Hilary drew hearts, sunsets, tears, _broken_ hearts... Anything to vent her feelings.

After a good couple of doodles, it was then that she wondered if Tyson and the others were okay. She wished that they could be here with her tonight.

* * *

Mariam sighed as she turned slowly and closed the door of the SaintShields' apartment. She barely had time to turn before a slightly aggravated voice broke the silence.

"Home a little late aren't we? And what the fuck do you have all those animals for?" Ozuma said, grimacing and walking over to Mariam. "A guinea pig? A rabbit? And a cat and a dog? Who do these belong to? Cuz God knows we're not keeping them." Ozuma finished, looking at the BladeBreakers in disgust.

"I'm just taking care of them for a friend Ozuma. And I can be out until whatever time I want to. You're not my dad. He died a long time ago." Mariam said, pushing past him.

"What friends do you have Mariam?" Dunga joined in, looking at Mariam smirking.

"I don't know Dunga, if it's close to the amount of brain cells_ you_ have, can't be many." She said quietly, walking into her room and closing the door with the boys in tact. "Ok, here's my room. Don't touch my stuff, sleep where ya want. But I'm not giving up my bed for a bunch of pets." Mariam said, putting everyone down. Max barked happily and sniffed around the floor. He looked around; the room was had a fairly large walk-in closet, police tape in an x across the back of her now closed door, and it had a lot of CDs lining the floors, and posters and necklaces and accessories covered the visible parts of the walls.

Tyson was thinking of how her team were so mean to her. It didn't seem right. And where was Joseph? Probably in bed. That was where Tyson wanted to be. The room also had it's own bathroom. Mariam took off her sweater and threw it in the closet, walking to her bathroom.

"I'm changing into my pjs, anyone looks and they die." She said, flicking her blue hair and closing the door. Kai did nothing,vexcept make himself comfortable on a pile of clothes on the floor. So Kai didn't want to risk getting on Mariam's bed without her permission. 5 minutes later, Mariam came out of the bathroom wearing a black tank top and white cotton shorts. She walked over to her dresser, which happened to be piled with make-up, perfume, hair things, more jewellery and bey parts. She pulled off her sweatband, causing her long side strands to fall into her eyes in an unruly matter. And then pulled her hair out of it's ponytail, the blue locks falling to her butt. Actually all the boys were a little surprised at how good she looked in pjs and with her hair down. Mariam payed no attention to her audience and brushed her hair with her comb. Mariam had an emo-ish haircut, having bangs that when brushed properly covered one eye. She kept her wrist full of black sex bracelets. Kai even had to say she looked good.

"Bark! Bark!" Max said, standing on his hind legs with his fronts now against Mariam's calves. She raised an eyebrow and bent down to him. Max bounded into her arms and made himself comfortable.

"And what do you think you're doing?" She asked, staring down at the puppy laying in her arms. He gave her face a quick lick which caused Tyson to rush around the room squawking madly. She guessed he was saying something like 'Max just kissed Mariam!'. Ray stopped that by putting his paw down on Tyson when he ran by, flattening the rodent.

"Anyway, I'm goin' to bed." Mariam said, putting Max back on the floor, who, happened to be getting comfortable in her arms. Ray meowed, and looked at Mariam. Kai just looked ticked. Tyson looked jealous as Mariam snuggled beneath her covers. Then she looked at them and sighed. "Alright, come on." And Ray and Max rushed over to her bed, jumping on board. Kai looked up with his ears perking and actually hobbled over. He couldn't get up, so he stood at the edge and waited for Mariam to look down. She rolled her eyes and dropped a hand for Kai to stand on as she lifted him up.

Max made his way up to just below Mariam's head, basically against her breasts, curled into a ball, facing outward. Ray nestled in the crook between Mariam's bent legs. Tyson stayed on the opposite of Mariam's facing, and prayed that the SaintShield had no desire to roll over during the night. Kai slept at the foot of Mariam's bed. Surprise surprise. She snapped her fingers and the light in her room went out.

Good night guys.. The guinea pig said, through a yawn.

Night, Tyson. The puppy said.

See ya in the morning boys. Ray stifled, plopping down.

...Hn. Can ya guess who?

Kai acted allusively, and waited for the others to fall asleep before he made his move. He arose as unknowingly as he could, and hopped off the bed. He took his chance to wander around the room, looking for anything suspicious. Kai went into her walk-in closet, finding it difficult to navigate. He plodded around until the Russian felt paper underneath his paws. Kai took the documents in his mouth and dragged them out.

Under the small amount of light glistening in from under Mariam's door, Kai dropped the papers and looked them over. 'Sheet music?' He thought weirdly. Why would Mariam have sheet music? The girl had lyrics in her journal, or diary, whatever that thing was. He thought about Hilary for a quick second. She liked to listen to music when she was in her room at the dojo. Her's was stuff like Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff... Needless to say, Kai had no taste in it. When Kai brought his head up from the papers, he looked around at the many CDs lying on Mariam's floor. There were The All American Rejects, Cobra Starship, Paris Hilton, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, AC/DC, The Tragically Hip, and that's just a small list. He thought that Hilary must be a pop and hip hop fan, while Mariam liked metal and shuffled with the papers back into the closet, but this time he didn't go undetected.

Kai? What are you doing up? The puppy said, silently yawning.

Nothing Max, go back to bed. He retorted.

Well if it has something to do with Mariam I wanna know. The brunette dog said, looking at the sleeping girl beside him with those blue eyes.

Why do you care so much about her Max? Kai asked, hopping over to the bedside.

I dunno, Max said, I just do. I don't know her well, but I do know her well enough to know that something's wrong. The used-to-be blonde said. The small noises weren't enough to wake Mariam but were enough to wake their other 2 friends. The fat little guinea pig crawled over Mariam's waist, and slipping, landing on the other side. Tyson yawned, and came to sit beside them. Ray just swiftly evaded Mariam's legs and sat beside the 3 too. Kai actually tried to get up and made it.

Ray looked at the clock, it read 6:30 in the morning. That was when the whole gang was startled as Mariam started to turn over, her back to the boys.

Maybe there's something you should know about her. Kai said, leaning against her back. You probably wouldn't expect her to be suicidal would you? Max went wide eyed, and climbed up her pillow till he was beside Mariam's head.

Kai, she wouldn't would she? Something's been wrong lately. Max added.

Where are you getting this from Kai? Ray asked, eyeing the rabbit weirdly.

Yesterday when we were at Kenny's, you guys fell asleep. She came home and started writing in a journal. All of us were asleep. I wasn't, so I read what she wrote after she fell asleep. It was thoughts on suicide, saying she had no real friends and shit. Kai finished, closing his one eye. They hardly had a chance to protest before Mariam's bedroom door flew open.

"Get up Mariam, it's time for training!" Dunga's voice boomed. Mariam immediately sat up, almost toppling Kai over in the process.

"I'm up, I'm up! Give me 5 fuckin' minutes! God!" She said angrily, getting out of bed and making her way to her closet.

"How about no? Come on Mariam, of all people you need the training most. You're the weakest link on the team!" Dunga roared, slamming her door.

"Think I don't know that?" the boys heard Mariam mutter from her closet. Tyson looked at Ray worriedly. Mariam finally walked out wearing her black converse, sex bracelets that she slept in, her hair was in it's usual high ponytail, a tie up copper leather vest which had a crop on the bottom to show off her bellybutton piercing, and a black mini skirt made of leather with black fishnets. She looked HOT! Needless to say, of course. "Oh yah, I forgot about you guys." She said upon laying eyes on the animals. "Well, I have slave laboring to do. Stay in my room, don't touch anything".

"MARIAM! COME ON!"Ozuma was heard yelling.

"Coming." She said lifelessly and walked out the before it closed, Kai pushed a CD case into the crease, holding it open.

Come on, we're gonna follow her. He said, bouncing out the door followed by Max, Tyson and Ray.

* * *

Hilary woke up with dried tears still on her pillow. She gulped and crept down the stairs. Just after 7 in the morning, man, she really had to learn how to sleep in. She was snapped out of her thoughts when her father showed up at the bottom of the steps.

"Agnis? Is that you? Oh, you. What the fuck are you doing up this early in the morning?" He started up the stairs, and poor Hilary was too scared to move. A quick slap on the same cheek sent Hilary tumbling down the landing. She exploded into tears, her father just groaned and walked to his room. Hilary felt a sharp pain in the side of her head, along with her cheek once again. When she got to the bathroom, she found her cheek had been bruised badly. 'I guess I ran into the door again today...' She thought. Mariam and the others... It'd been more than once she'd show up at the dojo with bruises or something. The girl didn't even want to wear a bathing suit, she was so beat up. Her head, upon looking in the mirror, was also bleeding. Hilary flinched as she dabbed a cool cloth on the wound, and then pulled some clothes out of the heap she had in her drawer. She wore a purple long sleeved sweater and a pair of faded jeans.

'**No,Dad**,' Hilary wanted to say, '**Agnis... Mom.. Is dead. It's just me, Dad. Just me.**' Considering the time, Hilary thought it much too early to head over to the Saintshields' apaprtment. So she lifted the cushion of her sofa, to reveal a CD case of Lindsay Lohan. And where the miniature catalog of pics and lyrics should be were folded pieces of paper. She smiled weakly and opened the case, the sheets falling to the floor. She thought of them as her diary, her... Lifeline. She put the cushion back onto the couch and sat down on the navy upholstery. The case had been cracked many a time because of her drunken father passing out on the couch. She herself read a slip of her diary.

_July 17,2006.  
I thought about suicide today. While I was watching the BladeBreakers. But I don't want to! I want to live! I want something better than this for me! I know there are people worse off, and at least I have friends who care about me. I'm not pretty, and maybe that's why Tyson doesn't consider me as anything more than a friend. But I'm happy with myself; .... Just not the way my life is. If Tyson doesn't like the way I look or something, than that's just what I am. I AM getting scared. Dad drinks more now, and he hates me. I love him! But he hates only me. He thinks that if we had been a better family, Mom wouldn't of left us. Wouldn't of taken that horrible drive. The car accident... If I maybe, just maybe, keep living with Dad he'll see the errors of his ways and stop drinking. I'm gonna keep living, there has to be something._

Hilary smiled weakly, wet spots appearing on the paper below. She was that strong... Just 3 months ago, she was that strong. Now it feels like everything is getting only worse. She wished she could trade ... With Mariah! Or Mariam, someone who had a life worth living. She lifted the edge of the cushion once again, and turned a slip of paper over. Then began to write, doodling designs on the edges as well.

_October 12,2006.  
Wow, you won't believe what's happened! The boys accidentally turned themselves into animals! Tyson is just the cutest guinea pig. Max is a puppy, but he seems to prefer Mariam's company over mine. Rayis a tomcat, and a swift one at that! Kai,well he turned into a rabbit. A pretty little white one. At least they get to have adventures. With Mariam... It seems a far cry that something's not wrong, but she couldn't possibly have problems like me! It's not like Ozuma is the one who beats her, and she sure doesn't have a Dad who abuses his own daughter! And the sad thing is, I still have a little part of me that's saying keep going. I have friends, I know , if I can ever work up the courage, maybe I'll ask Tyson out. And I guess I can say I have love too. But my father sure didn't.... If only I could trade places with someone for a day. Instead of living a worthy life.... I can see now that this life is never going to get any better._

Hilary stopped there, and put the paper into her pocket instead of in the case, and quickly, and quietly, ran upstairs to her bedroom, grabbed her Hilary Duff CD and bolted through the door on the road to the SaintShields'. First Kenny's. She had to feed his cats for the day. At the same time, Hilary noticed something that the boys must've forgotten. She scooped up Dragoon, Dranzer, Driger and Draciel and after feeding the cats, took off for Mariam's.

* * *

Wow, he works them hard doesn't he? Max said, watching Dunga, Mariam and Joseph doing a 100-set of pushups.

Yah, but I'm more concerned about Mariam herself right now. If what Kai says is true, and we _do_ need proof by the way, she's in trouble. Ray finished, licking a paw and nudging his ears. That was when Hilary showed up.

"Hi guys!" She said, giving each a hug. Except Kai of course. "Are they training?" Max nodded. Ozuma heard Hilary's voice and looked over curiously.

"Hilary? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing..." Hilary blushed, "just waiting for Mariam to get finished. When will you be done, by the way?" She added, looking down at her feet before meeting Mariam's eyes.

"Now." Mariam said rather than Ozuma. She pushed herself up off the ground, Mariam stretched and picked up her blade. She was about to walk away when Dunga roughly grabbed her arm.

"We're **not** done yet! Now come on! " he said, proceeding to pull her back.

"No Dunga, let her go. If she wants to put the team in jeopardy more than she already does, she can explain why we don't have the 4 sacred bit beasts." Ozuma said. Mariam closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Hilary was about to say something before Mariam grabbed her wrists and dragged her away, the animals following.

"What the hell _are_ you doing here?" Mariam said, looking quite exasperated. "And what happened to your cheek?" She said questioningly. At this, the boys took an instant interest. Hilary gulped again, and covered her cheek with one hand.

"I ran into a door." She lied.

"_Sure._.. Now come on." Mariam said as they continued on. The animals scurried ahead to talk, but fell into a hole. A hole filled with mud, and guck. "Oups, should of told you that was there." Mariam said. In the pit was a cat that looked paint covered, a guinea pig that was now one solid color, a dog that looked the same as before except wet, and a chocolate bunny. It was quite a sight. Hilary burst into a fit of laughter, staring down at the squirming mess.

"Mariam, you think we could go inside? I think the boys need a bath." Hilary grinned, reaching in and pulling out Tyson and Kai. Ray got out himself, and Mariam gave Max a helping hand. She couldn't even suppress the grin at a dirty dog. Ray meowed pissidly, as if telling Hilary and Mariam that **'you should of told us about that hole. This is entirely your fault.'**

Once inside, Mariam gave the boys each a handful of food to keep them preoccupied while she and Hilary fixed the bath water. Tyson had his pile gone 4 times over and he kept wanting more. Then,the bath was ready. Mariam felt quite dirty herself, and said for Hilary to dump them in the tub while she went to change.

Hilary picked up Max and lowered him into the hot water, the dog splashing around and barking. Ray was next, who put up quite the fight. He literally dug his claws into each side of the bath and Hilary had to force him. Ray knew why cats hated water. Kai almost made a beeline for the door but Mariam was just coming out, and the rabbit slammed right into her ankle.

"OW!" She screamed, accidentally lifting Kai with her foot. Believe it or not, like it was fate, Kai flew into the bath water. A splash coated Hilary, who was having a laughing fit. Mariam giggled and rubbed her foot.

God, smight them! SMIGHT SMIGHT SMIGHT! Kai yelled, which the girls didn't hear as he surfaced from the hot water. Max woofed delightfully, having a good kick at what happened. Tyson floated by belly up on a cube of soap, like he was laying out in the sun. One could say he was having a good time. Ray was in the corner of the tub, doing the retarded flinching thing.

Anyhow, the girls had soaped up the boys, and Hilary's sweater was now nearly black. Mariam was wearing a white tank top with jeans, so she stayed as far away from the wetness as she could. But Max wouldn't have it. The hyper active dog leapt out of the tub, and shook._ And he shook hard!_ Water went flying everywhere, as Mariam and Hilary both let out screams of bad volumes. Mariam's foot got caught in the shower curtain, sending her reeling into the tub along with the animals. She screamed bloody murder. Hilary couldn't laugh. She thought she must of been losing her voice. Max barked and barked and barked, Tyson just barely managing to keep afloat from waves. Ray had gotten _completely _soaked, and dashed out of that tub faster than the speed of sound. But the only thing Kai was noticing was how see through Mariam's tank top had gone. Max noticed too, and was staring intently at the sight of a Mariam with a see through shirt sitting in the tub, soaked to the bone.

"Uh, Mariam? Your shirt." Hilary said. Mariam cocked an eyebrow, then looked down. Another scream of bloody murder, which was probably what the neighbors thought was going on. Hilary was rolling on the wet floor, clutching her sides in laughter. Max was quite stout and proud of himself. He jumped back into the tub and onto Mariam, giving her a well deserved lick on the cheek. She groaned.

"Thanks Max. But guess what? I'm going to kill you." She said with an evil look. Max shot out of there almost as fast as Ray did, still soaking wet. And banged right into Ozuma.


	4. Pathetic

"WHAT IN MISERABLE HELL-" Ozuma screamed as he roughly fell back to the floor. Mariam turned the corner just then, her eyes quickly widening. She rushed over to Ozuma's fallen form and lifted the hyper active dog off of his chest. He was covered in sweat, mud, and now water from Max. And he did _not _look too happy about it.

"Oh my god, Ozuma I'm sorry! I know he didn't try-" Mariam attempted to say, but was cut off.

"Save it Mariam." Ozuma said as he picked himself up off the floor. "It seems all you've been doing lately is causing trouble for this team. And my patience is running think. You're the main reason we haven't captured Draciel yet, and if you keep causing ruckus I'll have you on a plane and headed back to our home town in no time." Max was couldn't believe what he'd just heard. And it was entirely his fault.

Ray was sitting not a few feet away, and he could see the look in Max's eyes. The cat knew how Max must've felt. Max slunk away back into the bathroom, where Hilary had her back to the wall and listening. Both Tyson and Kai looked down sadly.

It's all my fault. All of it. I shouldn't of ran out. Max muttered, his tail losing the wagging.

It's not your fault Max. I can't believe Ozuma treats her like that! It's no fair. Ray said, putting his paw on Max's back. In fact, Hilary was thinking the same thing. She growled and stampeded out of the tiled room, and directly in front of Mariam.

"How _dare_ you say that to her! She's a part of the team too! I bet Mariam works just as hard, if not harder then all of you put together!" Hilary screamed, her fists clenched in front of her. Joseph came in to ask what the commotion was about, to find Hilary screaming.

'Mariam must of done something again...' he sighed and gave his sister a sympathetic look. Ozuma glared at Hilary, a glare that would send the bravest into a fit of fright.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SAYING THIS TO ME YOU BITCH!?" He protested, advancing a few steps forward. Hilary gasped and was about to say something else when Mariam grabbed her arms like she did the first time and pulled her back, quickly. Hilary almost tripping over her own feet, Tyson, Kai, Max and Ray followed, but before Mariam could close her bedroom door Ozuma's voice rang out again. "And clean up this damn mess! And put on a dry shirt! God, you look like a slut!"

Mariam sighed.

"Don't say anything else to him Hilary, it'll just make it worse." She said, closing her door gently.

"Mariam, you don't deserve this! This is unfit. I can't believe you put up with this!" Hilary implied, her fists still in a knot as she sat down on Mariam's bed.

'I guess someone has it as bad as me after all...' She thought sadly. Max was still upset, and he just limped over to the closet and lied down. Max's paw hurt, and he guessed it was just how hard he hit Ozuma. But that wasn't all what was wrong. He could've gotten Mariam sent away. He'd never get to see her again.

That was harsh... Ray said as he sat beside Max. Tyson kept his gaze on Hilary, who almost looked on the verge of tears. But what reason did Hilary have to cry? The brunette's head was down now, and she looked slightly shaken. Kai thought it might of been how Ozuma yelled at her... But no, on second thought, Hilary was a tough girl. She could take a screaming. Tyson glomped over and clawed at her leg. Hilary picked him up and gave him a gentle stroke. At that moment, Tyson noticed the bruise on Hilary's cheek. She must've taken an awful smack to get that. But maybe she just ran into another door... But Tyson hardly thought so. He'd have to find out.

"Hilary, maybe you should go home. You know, until things quiet down a bit. "Mariam said, her hand still on the door, her blue locks covering her eyes. Hilary looked up, and arose from the bed, patted Ray and Max affectionately, nodded at Kai and put Tyson down. Mariam waved at Hilary friendly as she opened the door and Hilary walked away. Soon the closing of the main entrance to the condo was heard, Mariam sighed turned to look at the boys, pain evident in her eyes.

* * *

Hilary arrived home around half an hour later, and snuck in late. The last thing she needed was her father beating her senseless. After a quick look around, she paced up the steps to her bedroom. 'Damn!' She said mentally once she got to her room. 'I didn't give the boys their blades... Oh well, do it tomorrow.' She thought, closing her door behind her. Hilary changed into dry clothes, pulling out a gray tank top and her usual white skirt. That was when she remembered her paper from earlier that day. Hilary bent down and pulled the slip out of her pocket. It was slightly damp, but still readable. She smiled faintly before bolting downstairs and getting her CD case from under the couch. The paper inside, she turned to head back upstairs.

Once there, she adjusted her stereo volume. Then played the Hilary Duff CD she had put in. Hilary tuned it to 'Someone's Watching Over Me', her favorite song by the same-named singer. She loved to listen to that song, even write her own songs. But she couldn't sing at all. The main reason Hilary loved the song was because, even though she knew her mother was most definitely not watching over her, it gave her a feeling of serene peace. Soon the brunette's thoughts changed to what had happened a while ago, and how upset Max looked.

Max had seemed really really lost, and Hilary knew that Max had been hurt too, and hoped that the injury was nothing serious. He didn't mean to get Mariam in so much trouble ...Man, she seemed.. She seemed... Hilary couldn't describe it; hurt, sad, alone, and, ...Afraid. 'I guess that explains why she's been acting so differently..' The brunette had her own problems to deal with. She looked into her father's room. He was asleep in bed, on top of the covers. The air in her house smelt heavily of smoke and booze. Stepping on beer bottles and cigarette butts, she grabbed a bottle of Oust, in Lavender, her favorite scent, and sprayed all around. Then it was time to vacuum and clean her blood stains out of the carpet.

* * *

Tyson fluffed his cheeks with food, and walked out of the kitchen. Him, being so small, Tyson had time to think while walking to the bathroom. 'What happened to Hilary's cheek? I wonder...' MUNCH! He stopped thought for a second to eat a corn kernel, 'I hope things are okay at home... But Mariam doesn't exactly have things good here either...' Tyson came to the bathroom door, and peered inside to see Mariam drying the wet floor with a sad gaze.

'She looks an awful lot like Cinderella,' Tyson thought, 'Evil stepbrothers and all.'


	5. This Ain't A Scene,It's An Arms Race

Hilary sighed as she collapsed on her bed. Her head still hurt, as well as her cheek. She wondered if Mariam was okay, and how the boys were doing. Another thing she thought about was the number of girls at school who would ask her about the BladeBreakers, personal questions about the BladeBreakers ....Maybe that was why Tyson didn't like her? Those girls were a lot prettier and more popular than Hilary. And it was a shame that most of them were only after Tyson's money.... Gold diggers. Even Hilary's closest friends jumped at the chance to talk with the BladeBreakers when Hilary was around them... So cruel! Hilary wanted to keep Tyson and the others away from all that. The boys were so real, so true to themselves, and then they have to deal with girls (and maybe guys) who only wanted them for money and for spite? Shame shame shame... 'And, I bet that if the guys ever lost a championship any girls that liked them would move on just like that...' But not Hilary. Not her. She loved Tyson for real. She knew _cared for Tyson._

Sighing contently, she reached over and pulled out the drawer on her redwood bedside table. Hilary plodded around inside, until feeling a notebook under her fingers. She pulled it out along with a pen, and began to write. Song lyrics. Hilary wanted to write something good, something funny, happy... Anything to keep her mind off the present situation. And all of a sudden, an idea struck her like a bolt from the blue. The boys!! Hil could write about the boy's transformation into animals! You know, basically something to do with animals, the boys being her inspiration! Hilary got straight down to it, and began to write...

_'Why do all my friends now want to be your lovers?  
__Your family got bigger when they thought you were rich.  
__And now like maniacs  
__They scratch your back  
__Even when it doesn't itch'_

That was when a huge yawn erupted from Hil's gut. Apparently she'd been working late into the night. It was 11:30, and the brunette was clearly exhausted. She walked to her dresser, pulled out neon green pj pants and a grey tank that had 'Hilary' on it in rhinestones, and changed. Today was a long, funny, dramatic, and almost dangerous day. As Hilary snuggled beneath the covers, her only thought was, 'What will tomorrow bring?'

* * *

Max turned restlessly on the pile of clothes on the floor, his paw still quite tender. Kai was on the foot of Mariam's bed, doing... Nothing at all. Tyson was...

Eating?! _Again?!_

Yes, again. The rodent said, pausing to look up at the slightly rocking back and forth cat.

Tyson, where do you put it all? Ray said, shivering weirdly.

Okay,... Do you have fleas or something? Tyson eyed Ray cooly. The cat smirked and shook his head.

I....

Yeah?

I...

Keep going!

Have to go to the bathroom! Tyson did instant anime fall, and groaned.

Go get Mariam. She'll let you out to do your business. It's either that or we'll have to get you a litterbox. Tyson said, obviously proud of his remark. Ray sent the guinea pig a look of distaste before strutting off to find Mariam. The SaintShield wasn't in her room, and wasn't in either of the bathrooms. So Ray, careful not to cross paths with Dunga, Ozuma, or Joseph, walked around the house in hopes of finding Mariam. He continued to walk, looking in the kitchen, the den, the closets,.... Until he spotted a room with a slightly ajar door to the right of the leather couch. Ray moved over to it, and was surprised when he heard singing coming from the room. Sure enough, it was Mariam.

The bluenette was sitting in a foldable chair staring at a stapled booklet, singing calmly. She was good, too. Ray looked on in awe. She didn't seem to notice the feline standing there. And Mariam's singing was good, but the lyrics?... Not the best. They sounded like a soundtrack to some cheesey Saturday morning cartoon. But once again, her voice was heavenly. Put Ray in mind of Christina Aguilera, or Shakira, maybe Faith Hill... The girl had a wonderful vibrato, and good everything else. Except the lyrics, they were lame! Ray didn't mean to put down her song writing skills, but they were,... They were stupid! Oh well, he thought it better to go back and tell the rest of the team.

You guys, you're gonna trip when you see this! Ray said, tilting his head toward the exit of Mariam's room. Max groaned and shuffled over. Kai hopped over nonchalantly and the gang waited an extra 3 minutes for Tyson to get off the bed, and make his way towards the group.

I didn't know she could sing. She never told us. Tyson said, shaking his head to the beat. Max just nodded solemnly. And it was, so to say, getting a little irritating to Kai.

You know Max, sulking about it isn't going to make it any better. Kai stated matter-of-factly. The dog just looked down. By this time now, Ray could hardly stand up straight.

Okay, I.. Am.. Going.. To.. Bust. I really need to go! Ray practically whined, entwining his paws and tail to keep from losing control of his bladder. He was so stressed, however, and the rest of the team were so entranced in Mariam's voice that the BladeBreakers didn't notice a certain green-haired beyblader come up behind them. Joseph knelt down, and clicked his tongue. The boys turned with a start.

"You guys watching my sis practice?" Joseph said, attempting to stroke the bunny. That abruptly bit him. "Ow!" Joseph shrieked, but then covered his mouth for fear of interrupting his sis. "You guys shouldn't be here--" But he was interrupted by a small scratching sound at the house door. The cat had begun to scratch at the door frame, looking back every now and then to see if anyone was paying attention to him. Joseph sighed and walked over to Ray. "Bathroom break?" Ray just blinked while looking up at the SaintShields beyblader. Joseph opened the hardwood door and waved the cat out. Tyson, Max, and even Kai chuckled at Ray's swaying tail as it made it's way out the door.

Ray let out a sigh of relief after he'd done his business and turned to walk back to the house. When he heard a menacing growl. Ray's fur stood on end. What was that other thing that cats hated as much as water?

_Dogs!_ Ray yelled as he turned tail away from the pack of rabid black and white tomcat booted all he was worth out of the gardens, evading plants, flowers and gnomes that the dogs crashed through. Wild barks and whooping howls came from the hounds behind, and to Ray's dismay, there was a road up ahead. A road swimming with traffic. It was still far off, but just then a dog caught the tip of Ray's tail, the cat running that much faster.

Mariam sighed as she closed the book and walked out the practice room door. Joseph was now sitting on the couch, digging in a bag of potato chips. The boys each had their own individual little pile of cracked chips. Mariam looked around the room, and noticed that one little fleabag was missing.

"Hey, where's Ra-The cat!?"She said, feeling her stomach lurch at the sudden outburst. Man, now that she thought about it, it was really hard keeping this a secret...

"I let him out. He needed to do business."Joseph said, stretching and flexing his muscles.

"Joseph! The neighbors' dogs go out before they go to bed! Have you no idea that it's nearly 1 in the morning?!" Mariam found herself half screaming.

"Oops." Was all the olive haired teen could muster. Tyson, Max and Kai looked mortified. Yes, even Kai. Mariam dashed out the door, almost tripping and practically jumped down the steps. The long legged teen took quick notice at the rim-racked state of the garden, and grimaced at the sight ahead of her; 3 dogs running an all-too-familiar feline into the city street. Mariam kicked into overdrive just then, and ran all she was worth toward the squabble.

There was a lot of a kickin' and a gaugin', but Mariam finally pulled Ray back by his tail just as he was about to booter into a car doing at least 30 mile/hour. The SaintShield sighed as the 3 mutts took off back towards the Saints' neighbors' house. Mariam instantly dropped to her knees and started to play around with Ray's paws and running her hands through his fur to catch sight of any injury or bleeding. Ray mewed, and Mariam sighed. Never,_ never_, had she run faster in all her life. All of a sudden, Ray let out a squeak. There, on the tip of his tail, was a ripe looking bald spot.

Ray and Mariam plodded back into the house, gaining a surprised look from her brother and the other animals who quickly leapt off the couch to aid their pal. Mariam just walked into her bedroom, but didn't have a chance to close the door before Kai walked in with the 'I'm-so-damn- important' strut. Mariam shook her head, and let the other animals into the room before closing the door.

"Oh, and sis, please don't pull any more stunts! Ozuma's really pissed." Joseph yelled. Mariam shrugged.

"Well, I think I beat the track record at the Kentucky Derby." Mariam said, wiping the sweat from her forehead while she sat on the bed. Max still felt like he didn't have enough courage to face her. Luckily, this time she noticed. The bluenette looked over at the brown dog and cocked an eyebrow. "Hey Maxie, you okay?" She asked. Max layed his nose on his paws, and looked away. Mariam got off the bed and walked over to the fallen pup. She picked him up, and abruptly noticed him pull away his paw. "There's the problem." She stated, before gently kneading Max's paw like she'd done Ray earlier. Max whimpered, and Mariam used her other hand to pat him gently on the head. After a few minutes, Mariam managed to pull a small metal bead out of Max's brown little paw. "Must've came off Ozuma's necklace when ya slammed into him." Mariam finished, Max licking her cheek affectionately. Mariam put him down, and went to lay on her bed.

Kai leapt the height to her bed, and surprisingly landed on Mariam's butt.

"Ow, claws!" She said, whipping around and shoving him off. Kai thought it fun, and leapt back into place again. Mariam groaned, shoving him off her butt again. That Kai jumped on once more.

This is more fun than annoying Tyson. Kai said, as he bounded onto Mariam's butt again after another affectionate push.

Hey! The guinea pig howled, trotting over to the bedside. Ray and Max too came over, each giving Tyson a hand in climbing onto the bed. Not without thinking, the trio also attacked Mariam, nipping at her arms and pulling at her clothes.

"Ahhhh! Animal rapists!" Mariam screamed, in between bursts of laughter. Until finally, Mariam picked up a pillow and flattened the bunch. With another heaving sigh, Mariam reached back and snuggled into bed, with Kai actually not sleeping at the foot anymore. Instead, with Mariam lying on her stomach, Kai nestled on her ass once again.(Hey, he didn't pee or anything, but the guy had sure marked his territory.)

* * *

Joseph looked behind him at the closed door. Whatever was goin' on in there, he didn't want to know. God, Mariam made it sound like she had a gang of boys in her room.


	6. Hate Me

Mariam sat up in bed at the upright ringing of her cell. Groaning, she reached over and gripped the phone, pulling it to her ear.

"Morning." Hilary said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Hey. A little early to be calling,_ huh_ Hil?" Mariam said, clearly annoyed at being woken from her slumber.

"Sorry. I was bored I guess. Didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh, I see... Why not?"

"No reason... So how are the boys?"Hilary said.

"Fine. But speak of the boys... Do you think you could, maybe, take them for a night or two? I think Joseph's starting to get wise." Mariam said, pausing a second to wack Kai off her ass one last time. The rabbit didn't look too happy.

On the other line, Hilary felt herself go pale.

"Take the b--.. Boys?" She stuttered, struggling to regain control of her voice.

"Yeah." The bluenette said, switching hands to hold the phone in.

"I can't! I already told you that Mariam! My dad won't let me keep animals in the house!" Hilary said, her voice rising slightly.

"Geeze Hil, I can't do this all by myself! If you just explain how important it is, I'm sure your dad will let you keep 2 of the boys at least!" Mariam said, the animals behind her now awake and listening.

"Ok! Ok, I'll try and sneak them in. But I can only take 2. Who do you want me to take?" Hilary said, pondering.

"I don't really care. You pick." Mariam told Hilary.

"Ok..I'll take Tyson and Ray?" Hilary said questioningly. Hilary gulped. What was she getting herself into now..?

Tyson, Ray, Max and Kai looked at eachother skeptically. Ray and Max didn't like the idea of being split up. Kai was okay with it, and as for Tyson? Well, he'd probably prefer it over Hilary's anyway. Anyhow, the boys would be okay... Wouldn't they?

* * *

Hilary hung up the phone and fell back onto her bed. Oh, boy... She had to do her best to keep away from her Dad while they were here. She didn't want the guys to know about what happened to her at home, when they're not around, when she's not safe... Hilary sighed. Mariam said to come and get the animals at noon, so she had a few hours to spare. Hilary decided to have a shower, write another journal entry and write a bit more of the song in that length of time. She also had to go feed Kenny's cats.

As the brunette walked over to her dresser, she pulled out her usual pink shirt and white skirt. Sashaying over to the bathroom, she layed the clothes on the counter. Shower? Nah, a bath would be more like it. As Hilary turned the taps and let the hot water flow into the tub, the gushing water seemed to flood Hilary's mind with thoughts. Thoughts of how to finish the song, thoughts of what happened to Ray, and the other things Mariam told Hilary the boys had been involved with. Bending over, Hilary pulled out a white fluffy towel and put it on the toilet seat cover. Stripping down, the female was about to step into the water before it struck her to grab the pen and paper, to add more to her song. Picking up the towel she'd just placed down, she wrapped her now naked form in it and tiptoed out to get her materials. When she returned, Hilary returned the fluffy white guard to it's place on the toilet seat and lowered herself into the steaming vaut of hot water. Sighing content, Hilary sunk down into the water, keeping the paper from getting wet by holding it high. Again, her mind wandered to those evil succubuses after Tyson and her friends. There! There was her next line! She picked up the pen and began to write:

_I want to figure it all;  
__I want to figure it all out.  
__I want to save you from,  
__Save you from all that's vain;  
__Save you from the things that cause us pain._

Relaxing at the thought of having her next verse written, Hilary sighed and placed the noteook away from the wetness of the water and sunk even deeper into the hot liquid.

* * *

Mariam sighed. She got out of bed, whipping the covers back. As Tyson made his way out of the avalanche of blankets, he let out a squeak of annoyance. She walked over to her dresser, pulling out a pair of underwear, a bra, a white shirt, and a pair of dark denim jeans with tears in the knees. Then her mind snapped: Why didn't Ozuma wake her for training this morning? She cocked a violet brow.

Max sighed contentively. He had to admit, being a dog wasn't so bad. Sure, he missed the human sex, but everything else was a little easier. When you had someone to tend on you all the time. With a yawn, he hopped off the bed and walked over to Mariam's side

"Max, did you hear Ozuma or Joseph, Dunga trying to wake me up this morning?" Mariam said, ignoring the fact that she knew Max was staring at her in her pjs. The dog looked up at her and blinked. Nah, Max didn't here anything. Mariam nodded, turning back to her reflection in the vanity mirror. Ray, Tyson and Kai also made their way to beside the Saintshield. She looked down at them before kneeling to their height. "Food, right? Or do you have to go to the washroom?" She said, eyeing them carefully. Tyson walked, or, ran, over to his lit-_big_, dish, and sat down impatiently. Ray just sat there. Nothing in particular did he want. Kai held an intense gaze at the bluenette. Still pissed about being pushed around this morning, Mariam thought. She smirked at it. Max didn't seem to want anything either, so he just followed Mariam's every step.

Anyhow, Mariam had to finish getting ready. Taking her clothes in one hand, she walked to her closet. Max and Ray followed her in. It was relatively the first time they'd been in her closet. Lying against the back wall was an electric guitar. It was standard black,but had an outline of blue glitter.

She plays? Geeze, she could've told us. Ray said, rubbing up against the stand.

I know. I'm starting to think that she keeps a little too many secrets. I wonder what else she has to hide? Max said, weaving in between her legs as Mariam pulled a black hoodie out of the left side of the closet. Along with it, papers and music also fell to the floor. With a muttered curse she bent down to pick them up. Among the items dropped was a Hawthorne Heights CD, a Taking Back Sunday CD, two or three sheets of music, and a... Razor blade? Quickly stuffing the items back into the closet, Mariam ushered the boys out, herself following. Kai looked up curiously at the emerging trio. And, Max and Ray, still a little shaken about what they'd seen in that closet, ambled over to Kai and Tyson.

You are _not _gonna believe what Mariam has in that closet. Ray said.

Mariam let out a sigh as she gazed through her window at her 3 teammates practising.

'Why didn't they wake me? Ugh!' She thought, rushing to her bathroom, grabbing her clothes along the way. A minute later, she walked out, telling the boys she had to go train with her team. Once again, Max wasn't about to let her go on alone. With another CD case slip, the boys plodded after.

"OZUMA!" Mariam yelled, jogging up to her captain. "Why didn't you wake me?!" She said exasperatedly.

"Because I didn't want to."

"What? The hell kinda answer is that?!" Mariam said, anger rising in her voice.

"Look, you haven't put half as much time and effort into our training and mission as you should! If you want to play miss loner girl, go ahead! We're certainly not tolerating it anymore. But beware: Make sure your 'new routine' works for you, because another loss to Max and you're headed home!" Ozuma beckoned, turning his back on her. Mariam just shook her head and dropped, 100 push-ups. Max, Kai, Ray and Tyson exchanged worried looks once again.

I don't get it! If her team's been treating her this way,why didn't she say something?! She could've stayed with us! Max practically screamed. Tyson just nodded. They boys sat in wonder at the harsh training routines for the Saintshields for about an hour and a half, until Mariam withdrew her blade. The boys took that as a signal to booter back into the house before Mariam beat them to it.

Once Mariam was back in her room, door locked, she pulled off her hoodie. Strangely, as soon as she pulled off her hoodie, she made a quick grab for her sex bracelets. And, just like before, Kai could've sworn he saw a tear roll down her pale cheek. But no, he must've imagined it because her cheek was dry. She gave the animals a glance before retreating into the closet. For only a second. When she came back out, both fists were clenched and her hoodie was back in it's original position from earlier. And before Max had a chance to bark, Mariam was inside the bathroom with her door locked.

* * *

Hilary quietly crept down the stairs. Her father must've actually went to work today. The brunette grinned before strutting out the door. It was half to twelve, and it took Hil thirty minutes to get to the SaintShields' house, so she figured she'd make it just on time. It was a warm day, and Hilary was looking forward to maybe lying out with Mariam and the boys for a while. Maybe she could even invite Mariam over the house. Hil had cleaned up after her bath, and her father wouldn't be back to make her life a living hell until around midnight, so she was good to go. Skipping merrily down the road, Hilary whistled a calm and refreshing tune.

* * *

Mariam let another silent tear drop to the floor as she struggled to conceal the bleeding. Mariam could feel the pain building up inside of her, and oh, it felt _good_. Or did it?... It was times like these when she didn't know how to feel. In pain or in sanctuary? The bluenette slid the top of her make-up box to retrieve her blood cloth. Mariam thought it better to use one rag instead of countless others to hide her secret. The boys might get suspicious. The rest of her team, too- Or would they? Oh, there she went again... Pondering over things that would never matter. There had to be at least seven scars there now. As she groaned, the bloody razor dropped to the floor with a tick. Which caught the attention of a long-eared nemesis outside.

Kai hopped over to the bathroom door. He tried to sneak a peek under the door ledge, but to no avail. It was too close to Mariam's floor. So, Kai, with an ounce of worry, started to scratch at the bottom of the door.

Mariam awoke from her pained daze in a start.

"Oh, fuck..." She mumbled to herself as she quickly looked around the room. Bending slightly, the vixen grasped the bloody razor blade from the floor and made a quick swipe to collect the blood in the already soaked rag. Kai knew something was wrong, and it didn't take him long to wave over the others. All 4 critters began scratching and gnawing at the door. "Just a minute!" Mariam yelled, patting the rag on her red wrist one last time. Grabbing her set of 50 bracelets, Mariam stuffed 25 on each arm. Her emerald eyes on the verge of tears, she stuffed the cloth and razor into her make-up container, glanced in the bathroom mirror, then pulled open the door. The 4 boys looked up with a start.

"What? What do you want?" She said, looking down at them apathetically. Max saw the pain in her eyes, but sadly, all 4 failed to notice the red laceration on her right wrist being covered by her bracelets.

Kai peered into the bathroom from behind Mariam's ankle. Nothing looked wrong... _Oh well, must've dreamed it._ Kai looked down in dismay before shaking his head lightly and walking back to Mariam's bed. Max, however, stared long and hard at the being before him.

_Man, how bad could this get?_ He thought, finally turning back towards Kai. At that moment, Hilary gently pushed open the door of Mariam's bedroom.

"Hey, Mary." Hilary said as she gently closed the door behind her. Mariam tore her gaze away from the animals sharply and looked toward Hilary.

"Hey." Mariam gulped. Her voice sounded weird. "Sorry Hil, getting a bad throat. Ya here for the boys?" Mariam said, picking up a box next to her closet. Hilary nodded. Walking over to Tyson and Ray, Hilary knelt down and the boys scurried into her arms. Mariam handed Hilary the box. Needless to say, Ray was a little hesitant to go just then.

A box? You have _got _to be kidding me... The neko jin said as Hilary plopped him down inside the light brown cardboard box. Mariam smiled slightly. Ray looked up at the SaintShield once more, as if waiting for an appropriate goodbye. Mariam seemed to catch on, and simply said 'bye, guys, be good.'

It was then that Hilary noticed a small bead of blood drip to the floor. Luckily, the boys didn't catch that.

"Uh, can you guys wait for a second? Be right back." Hilary said, setting the box on the bed before taking Mariam by the shoulders and walking out the door. Do I have to say it? Kai is one nosey bastard. There goes another CD case. As the BladeBreakers watched the two girls through the seam in the door.

"Mind telling me what's that?" Hilary said as she grabbed Mariam's right wrist, watching the blunette flinch in pain. "Oh my God, oh my God, Mariam you can't do this! You're hurting yourself! You cut! _Mariam_! Are you listening to me!?" Hilary said, now shaking Mariam violently by the shoulders. Meanwhile, the boys couldn't believe what they'd just seen. And heard.

No... She can't be... Max said, walking back two steps.

I can't believe this.. Ray said, looking down in disbelief. You guys, we've got to help!

Agreed. Kai said immediately. Max was still in pretty much pieces. No one knew that day how bad Max wanted to just run, run into that hallway and scream at her. Scream at Mariam 'till he lost his voice. But he couldn't. He just couldn't...

"How could you do this to yourself?!" Hilary said, her voice quieting now, pain and sadness evident in her choked out words.

"...Hilary I couldn't stop-... I'm scared!" Mariam said, breaking down into a fit of tears in Hilary's arms. Hilary held her friend close. Together, Hilary cried for her friend. Mariam started to mutter things about stopping. But as Hilary's tears slowly started to dry, she couldn't help but think: Did Mariam really mean it?

Mariam waved goodbye to Hilary before retreating to her bedroom. Met by two pairs of angered, saddened eyes. That she couldn't bare to look in to. Mariam gulped again, and walked over to her bed. She layed down, burying her flushed face into her pillow. Without saying, it didn't take Max long to run all he was worth over to her side. He began to lick and nuzzle her affectionately in every way he could think of. Kai, come to think of it, was there also. The lone rabbit couldn't bare to see Mariam like this. She was always so strong; So hopeful; All gone now, as if it had been drained away with the blood she'd lost that day...

Mariam sobbed as she lifted her head from the pillow, flooded emerald eyes showing fear. That used to be so wild, free and strong. Now darkened by fear and lies. The puppy licked and nuzzled into Mariam's neck, as she pulled him close. Tears darkened the light brown fur of Max, and Kai just didn't know what to do at this point. After about an hour, Mariam stopped crying, and lay on her bed, petting Max and Kai affectionately.

* * *

Hilary sniffled as she opened the door to her house and stepped inside. Kneeling, she opened the box and let the depressed cat and guinea pig crawl out. Tyson looked down; Down, the feeling of the hour. He felt for Mariam, but still, as a shiver crept up his tiny spine, he couldn't shake the fact that something seemed out of place here.

Sadly, Tyson couldn't of been more right.

With a loud groan, Hilary's father emerged from the den, taking a swig of his beer. Hilary felt her knees go weak. No! He couldn't be home! No!

"Daddy, I.. I thought you were at work..." Hilary said as she stepped in front of Tyson and Ray. She couldn't let her father see them.

"Work? That's a good one dearest." The drunkard said, taking a clumsy step towards her. Ray felt, for some strange reason, this wasn't going to turn out greatly. "Now, what should I do ton-to-tonight?" The man said, advancing ever closer to the shaking brunette. Hilary didn't have a chance to answer before her father swung, with all his might, the beer bottle at Hilary's temple. With a loud thud, Hilary fell to the floor. Her father laughed lightly. "You made me spill my beer." He said, walking back into the den.

Ray and Tyson were horrified, and bounded to their fallen comrade.

Hilary! Hilary! No! Tyson screamed as he felt wetness begin to soak the carpet around his feet.

Ray just gulped, staring in disbelief and in pure sadness. Until Tyson's extremely scared voice broke the silence.

Ray, she's not getting up! Ray, _SHE'S NOT GETTING UP! _


	7. A Night To Remember,A Day To Forget

Ray staggered back on his nimble paws drunkily. Tyson's screams-uh, squeaks, -Fell on deaf ears. The feline could hardly believe what he'd just seen. Right now, so many things were running through his head.

What else has she been hiding?

Why didn't she tell them this?

Will she survive.....?

_Dammit Ray, Now's not the time to be spacing out!_ He mentally cursed himself. With fire glowing in his golden eyes, Ray lashed out.

TYSON! I'm going to get Mariam! Stay with her, stop the bleeding! Ray yelled as he turned and bolted up the street back towards the SaintShields' place. No way was Hilary gonna bite it on his shift.

Ray could feel sweat matting in his fur. He could've sworn that he was running even faster than when the pooch brigade had chased him onto the freeway the other day. His sharp claws made clicking sounds on the rough pavement as Ray darted in and out between car tires. The pavement was hot, so hot it was actually burning the fleshy pads on the bottom of Ray's paws. But now was certainly no time to go shoe shopping. Not that he'd find any that would fit him anyway.

'Almost there...'

* * *

Mariam yawned as she stretched and forced herself to sit up in bed. Mariam's eyes had lost most of the bloodshot, but it still wouldn't take a genius to figure out that she'd been crying some time earlier. Kai and Max had also awoken from they're slumber, upon not feeling Mariam's soft hands running through their fur anymore. Max looked up sadly. Mariam smiled warmly down at him, and forced her still-tired legs out of bed. She wasn't woken up for training today either. But you know what? She doubted she cared. Mariam stretched again, and plodded over to her dresser. After piling on bracelets, she roughly ran a brush through her straight hair and put it into it's usual ponytail. Mariam pulled open the shutter blinds shielding her room from the harsh sunlight. Mariam groaned and covered her eyes, squinting against the bright light. That's the bad thing about mornings; and afternoon movies. You get temporary blindness. Which, of course, meant you couldn't see.

And as fate would have it, it was time for a little bad luck. Mariam swung around to get the rest of her clothes and change, but as she did, she rudely stubbed her toe against her bedside table.

"OW!" Mariam screamed, not ceasing to hop around on one foot while holding the injured toe in one hand. Kai and Max couldn't hold back the laughter. Mariam groaned again. Sending the boys a glare, she walked over to her bedroom door, and slowly opened it, listening for signs that her team weren't at home.

Ray sucked in his breath as he struggled to fit through the small opening left in the patio screen door. Thank the lord that Dunga was too damn stupid to close the thing all the way. With one last tail swing and hind leg power thrust, Ray shot into the living room, and collided with Mariam as she stepped out into the hallway.

Mariam shrieked and fell backward with a thud. Max and Kai's ears pricked, and the two jumped off the bed, running to Mariam and Ray's aid. Ray was too ecstatic to explain properly, and Mariam couldn't understand anyway. But Kai and Max caught a few words.

Hilary...... Father...... Drinking..... Dying......HELP! The battered cat screamed as he eyed Mariam picking herself up off the floor.

"Ray! What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be over at Hilary's!?" Mariam said, rubbing her now even-sorer toe. Her head didn't feel exactly great either. But Ray didn't give her time to acknowledge the pain. The feline latched into Mariam's pj pants leg, and began to roughly pull her towards the door. Max and Kai, now understanding the severity of the situation, too began to forcefully tug at Mariam's leg.

Struggling to keep herself on her own clumsy two feet, Mariam waved her arm wildly while trying to grasp a small understanding of what was going on. Max kept barking, Ray was somewhere in between hissing and mewing, and Kai was just pulling.

"WHAT is going on?! Do you guys have rabies or something?!" Mariam screamed in protest as the combined strength of the three pets pulled her out to the padio door. Max suddenly let go of her, and ran for Mariam's shoes. He brought them over one at a time, but still with incredible speed.

Mariam, by now, was slowly getting the point. Something had happened; Something bad. Mariam grunted and dropped to her knees, pulling on her converse in a rush. She quickly pulled open the door.

"Where to? Hilary's?!" She said, breathing hard. Ray, Max and Kai let out anxious cries, and Mariam bounded out the door. The boys sweatdropped.

"Oh, yeah." She said, running back up the steps and gathering the stunned trio in her arms.

* * *

Tyson paced the floor in a frantic state. Stop the bleeding? How the hell was he supposed to stop the bleeding?! He was a frickin' guinea pig! Not a god damn nurse! Tyson's head was in turmoil, and he looked around scared. The father was seemingly out on the couch, and the foul stench of beer and coagulated blood filled his nostrils.

_Ray... Where ARE you?_ Tyson thought. He had no choice; Tyson ran into the living room, climbed up Hilary's dad, and scuttled over to the telephone on the table beside the couch. What was the number people called for the ambulance? 911? Wasn't that the police? Oh well, they'd have to do! Tyson knocked the receiver off hook, and began to jump onto the assigned numbers. 9... 1... No! Dial tone already! The rodent would have to do it faster this time around. Tyson pulled the receiver back to it's place, then knocked it off again. 9... 1... DAMMIT! Third times a charm right? Tyson repeated the process.

"Hello 911, please state your emergency." A woman's voice answered. Tyson began frantically screaming into the phone.

HELP! MY FRIEND'S HURT, I NEED AN AMBULANCE! 

Too bad the only thing the woman on the phone heard was squeak, squeak, and squeak.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" Tyson went wide eyed. Then screamed it even louder. The rodent thought he had taken in so much air that he would pop like a furry balloon, sending corn and seeds flying. But Tyson's cries were still overshadowed.

"Is this some kind of joke? The use of the 911 number is not for playing around. I say good day to you, and don't let it happen again."

Tyson couldn't believe his feathery little ears. All because of Kenny's damn potions! Why? Why had he been so god damn stupid to mess around with them?! The world champion could feel the tender drops of his tears bounce off his whiskers and onto the coffee table. All because of him,

Hilary, his one true love, would die! All faith that Tyson had stored within him leaked away with the tears he had shed. Slowly, and pitifully, Tyson slunk back into the living room. To a startling sight.

It was Hilary! Her body had changed position on the floor! She was coming to! With a quick scurry, Tyson hurried over to the fallen brunette. He didn't get a chance to utter before Mariam, Ray, Max and Kai burst through the door. Mariam let out a shriek of surprise.

"Hilary! Ohhhh......" Mariam fell backward slightly, and had to grab the doorframe for support. The blunette could almost feel tears behind her eye lids, but this wasn't the time to sit and cry! Mariam threw herself forward, and she grabbed Hilary's hand, relieved to find a pulse. It looked as if the wound on her temple had dried blood, so it must've stopped running. Mariam sighed in relief, and then took a deep breath. With a quick motion, Mariam whipped out her cell and dialed 911 rapidly. Tyson scoffed.

_Now why didn't I think of that?_

* * *

Mariam paced the cool tiled floor of the hospital. After seeing what she'd seen at that house, the place felt, and smelt sickly. With the stench of death. Mariam sighed, and sat down in the waiting room chair. Twiddling her fingers in her lap, she glanced over at the 4 animals crammed into one medium sized doggie carrier. They were crammed up so tight that Max's long snout was starting to look a lot... Less long. Mariam couldn't find a good parisisim to finish that metaphor. Either way, they were really squished. And really sad.

Ray looked like he'd just gotten back from World War One. The feline's fur was matted, and his eyes were filled with concern. How did he feel? Was he thinking that maybe, just maybe, he didn't reach Mariam fast enough to obtain help for Hilary? She didn't know; But Mariam didn't exactly think Ray was in the mood to discuss his feelings either. Mariam looked away before any of the boys noticed her burdened gaze on them. The other people in the emergency room all looked the same way. Not very distressed, but if Mariam strained her ears, the voices of a doctor and a worried wife were heard clearly.

Miss, you have to calm down. We're unable to release any information until we know you are mentally stable to handle it. Mariam heard more sobs. But finally, the woman's shaky voice cleared the crying.

I'm calm. Please, just tell me! Please...? Mariam heard the nurse sigh. A loud one too. That couldn't be good news...

Miss Patterson, your husband has sustained critical, life threatening injuries that our professionals are trying their hardest to refine and prepare. We don't know if he will make it or not. That was all it took for the woman in question, Patterson, to break down into uncontrollable tears. Mariam winced.

That person was about to lose the person she loved most. Hilary was just a friend to Mariam, and they'd only been friends for a short while. Mariam wasn't crying, but tears could be felt, just like the moment when she first saw Hilary's mangled body lying on the floor, surrounded in pools of her own blood. The most blood Mariam had ever seen in her life, from a little head injury! Mariam sighed and groaned. Then her mind wandered to the other people in the waiting room, sitting around her. Did they hear that woman's strangled cries of fear and sadness? Were they all losing someone they knew and loved too?... Did they even care? Mariam swallowed hard. Finally, her mind wandered down to the small resident in the cage.

Tyson... What was he feeling right now? It didn't take a friggen smart ass to know that Tyson had loved Hilary. Back when they were escaping Gideon's battle tower, just as they were about to breach the exit, Mariam could hear Hilary's distressed cries for Tyson. And Mariam also saw the glint in Tyson's eye when Hilary said she was worried. Mariam shook her head and gnawed her top lip. Another quick look into the cage made Mariam almost gasp.

A crying Tyson. Mariam wondered... How did it feel to lose someone you love?

A door handle from the hallway down from the waiting room creaked. Kai's ears pricked, and he bolted upright, forgetting he was in a low-rise carrier. The stubborn thing wacked his head square in the ceiling of the confinement. Mariam, by this time, had also heard the steady footsteps proceeding down the glowing white hallway. Another nurse. It was the same one that had attended to Mariam when she first came through the door along with the paramedics with Hilary on the stretcher.

Mariam stood abruptly, and briskly walked over to the woman clad in light, faded green.

"How is she?" The blunette asked quickly. The nurse raised her hands as if to calm her down. Mariam took a deep breath, and prepared herself for the answer.

The boys at this time were all up and this it? Was Hilary okay? Tyson felt like his heart was about to beat through his tiny chest. Max blinked. Once. Twice. Kai looked like Kai; But you still sense small tension in him. Ray cringed. Especially when Mariam began to walk back to them with her head down.

"They said she's gonna be alright. We can go in and visit her now." The boys got so excited that they rocked the carrier. It tipped, of course, and fell to the floor. The puppy, rabbit, cat and guinea pig inside hit the patterned front harshly. The whole lot had waffle-like imprints on their faces. Mariam smiled at this. With a sweet motion, Mariam grasped the kennel and proceeded down the same hallway the nurse had just emerged from. Nurse said room 123, which was surprisingly close. Mariam opened the steel door.

Hilary looked up at them with a weak smile on her pale face. Mariam smiled back and knelt to the floor, then opened the carrier door. The Pet Brigade filed out and made their way onto Hilary's high hospital bed, surprisingly with great ease. Mariam herself walked over and took a seat on the chair next to Hilary's bedside table. The room was pretty big, a great window with long white curtains, a few lamps, a TV system and a few other small knickknacks that made it feel as homely as humanly possible for patients.

"Hey you." Mariam said to Hilary, who still had a weak look in her eyes. But her grin widened when Tyson crawled into her balled up hands in her lap. Hilary looked down at Tyson with the bright face and then back to Mariam.

"Hi. The doctor says I'm gonna be okay really soon, but I have to stay overnight twice to make sure. My head still hurts." Mariam nodded solemnly.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" The boys all looked away from the brunette, as if they were disappointed. And Hilary noticed too. But clearly rejected the offer. Though it seemed more like a demand.

"No." Mariam couldn't force it out of her; She knew that. Mariam nodded again, and crossed her arms, leaning back into the frame of the chair.

"Is there anything you want me to, well bring you or something? You know, from home?" The SaintShield saw the girl flinch; Not a good sign.

"No. I don't want anyone going in my house while I'm away." Hilary said, stroking Ray sweetly. Max whimpered. Hilary forced another weak smile, and blew a kiss to the chocolate dog. Max whimpered a short answer. Kai was at ease, on Hilary's side farthest away from Mariam. He appeared to be listening intently. Mariam persisted on.

"Visiting hours last for another hour. There has to be something at that house you want. Just tell me. I'll be careful, of whatever your afraid of in that house." Mariam said, looking up at Hilary with kind eyes. But they still held some fire of bravery, and the BladeBreaker knew she was serious. Hilary sighed.

"If you wouldn't mind, there are some song lyrics in my closet in my bedroom on the second floor. Dad will probably be asleep, so don't wake him. Could you bring me those with some pens?" Hilary asked, giving Mariam a pleading look. Mariam nodded.

"Keep the guys till I get back." Hilary nodded back and watched Mariam's retreating form as she strolled out of the room. Hilary looked down at 4 of her closest friends.

"Thanks for everything. You make life worth living, my friends." Hilary said as she pulled them all close. Tyson squeaked. Ray mewed. Max barked. Kai did absolutely nothing.

About twenty minutes later, Mariam returned. She hadn't bothered to read any of what she was bringing; Those were Hilary's special collections .It would be practically a crime for her to do that. Mariam smiled warmly at what she saw. There was Hilary, nestled warmly in the bed with Tyson, Ray, Max and Kai curled around her warmly. Mariam tiptoed into the room and lifted the boys into her arms, each waking. Laying the documents on the table, Mariam hushed the questioning boys then headed out of the room. But before Mariam closed the door, Tyson blew his sleeping sweetheart a small kiss. Mariam tiptoed out, lightly closing the door behind her.

Hilary awoke a couple hours later, and it was around two in the morning. But Hilary was brimming with energy. Creative energy. Hilary looked around the room thoughtfully. Mariam had done as she said, and the lyrics to Hilary's song were on the table along with a pencil and pen and some liquid paper. Hilary smiled as she reached across her chest and drew the sheets close, reading over what she had so far. It bothered Hilary that she had no one to sing them; perhaps she could mail them to a celebrity? Oh well. The song wasn't even finished, so Hilary had a lot to think about. The brunette sat up in bed, and put pen to paper. This would be the chorus, she decided.

An hour later, and Hilary was finished. Took a while to write a single chorus of eight lines.

'Enh', she thought, 'long enough.' And with that Hilary drifted off to another peaceful sleep to await the surprises morning would bring.


	8. Temporary Insanity

The days ticked by. Hilary lay cramped in her hospital bed, tossing and turning through sleepless nights. Mariam and the boys would visit her every day, and she even got letters from the other teams telling her how much she was missed. Well, what else was she going to do, cooped up in that stuffy hospital all week? Of course, write letters. Hil had written long letters to all of her old friends after getting Mariam to sneak in to her house routinely for things she'd need. And everyone she wrote to kept replying. Hilary even included a couple pictures in each letter. Hilary smiled as she read over a particular letter that had just arrived today from Europe.

_Dear Hilary,_

_How are you? We're fine. Better than fine. Nothing's really new, besides the fact that Oliver and I have started a contest to see who can kiss the most girls (ka-ching!), lol. I'm missing you a lot right now, especially cuz you could help me beat Oliver in this contest (hint hint!), lol. I'm in a giddy mood ,and I hope this letter makes you feel better. Is it? It damn well better be since I'm taking my time to write this instead of pissing off Johnny, who, by the way, has a crush. On your new best friend! Ha! Yeah, ol' Johnny boy likes Mariam! That picture you sent of her kissing you on the cheek really got him off! I don't blame him! The two of you are HOT HOT HOT whether you're sick from a concussion or not!_

Hilary had to pause to laugh. The picture she'd included in the letter for the Majestics was a playful portrait of Mariam giving Hilary a kiss on the cheek. Of course, Hilary had to con Mariam into doing it. Ms.'I Don't Display Affection To Other Human Beings' was a little sub-conscious, but Hil did manage to get her to do it with the famous '_Would you do it for me?'_ line. Hilary giggled at how Mariam turned beet-red. Then, the brunette lowered her eyes to the letter to continue reading where she left off.

_Lol, I wish I could be there to kiss your boo boo better. But hey, I can always come on vacay right? Sometime soon my sweet, sometime soon. But there's actually something I've been meaning to ask. Where are the BladeBreakers? We haven't heard from them in ages. Kinda sucks too, because Robert is rearin' for a rematch against the world champ! Well, if you see them, tell them to get their asses into gear and start training! The World Championships are on the horizon! Wo0t! MAJESTICS RULE BLADEBREAKERS DROOL! Ha ha! _

_And another thing, those pets with you and Mariam in the picture are adorable. I want the rabbit. The guinea pig isn't bad either. The cat, enh. Kinda allergic to them. Maybe a nice dog will attract the ladies? Or Oliver (wink wink, hehehe). But must go now._

_Much Love,_

_Enrique._

_(P.S: HOT HOT HOT! And feel better, hehe.) _

Hilary laughed again. That was Enrique for you. The lad hadn't changed a bit. Good thing too, Hilary liked his genki personality. Suited his blonde hair. Come to think of it, were all blondes hyper and flirtily playful? There's Enrique, Max, Mystel, others too. Hilary shrugged at the thought.

Enrique had asked where the boys were. Was their disappearance that noticeable? Hopefully not, the last thing that Hilary and Mariam needed were the FBI slinking around the premises looking for 4 teens that had turned into animals because of magic potion, and the only leads they had was a hospitalized brat and a suicidal harlequin. Hilary smiled sadly.

* * *

Mariam flinched. Ozuma towered over her ,she on her knees on the ground. The two had a practice beyblade match, and Mariam's lack of training certainly showed. The battle was over in not three minutes.

"I knew you were no good. I have to say, when the SaintShields first became a team I was sure you were gonna take us places, and under my watchful eye it seemed that way. What happened to you Mariam? You were so strong..."

'You happened to me Ozuma.' Mariam looked downward and pulled herself to her feet.

"ANSWER ME!" Ozuma grasped Mariam low on her shoulders violently and pulled her to him, she leaning back nervously, eyes shut tight and teeth clenched. Ozuma growled, and released one of her arms and poised his own in a striking position.

"Ozuma calm down!" Joseph said, punching Ozuma in the shoulder. Ozuma turned to look at the boy angrily, but calmed himself when he saw the worried look in his eyes. Mariam was Joseph's sister... Maybe this should wait, until they were alone. Ozuma eased himself and let Mariam go. She fell to the ground. Ozuma briskly walked away. Joseph looked down at Mariam before gulping and trailing after his leader. Dunga shook his head as he watched the 3 from the house window.

Mariam had it coming... Or was Ozuma just being a little too controlling lately? Dunga couldn't decide. Whether the burly bushman wanted to do something or not, he couldn't. It could easily get him kicked off the team. And then where would he go? But where would Mariam go? Dunga clenched his fist. As annoying as the girl may be, she was still his friend and part of their team. And it had to be hard for Joseph to endure it all. Dunga knew Joseph cared for his sister, but he didn't show it often. Maybe Mariam felt uncared for...? Was that why she had grown so away and distant? Lost in dreams all the time? Dunga didn't know. But he wasn't going to purger his role on the team to find out.

Max watched the scenario unfold. He was so tempted to run out, and just attack Ozuma like the dog he was. But Kai had talked him out of it. Their cover would be blown, and they couldn't risk that. But the Russian rabbit had to admit, things were starting to look drear for Mariam. Dangerous too. Ozuma seemed like the type who could easily lose his temper and hurt someone he cared about. Or did he even care? Kai could never remember Ozuma showing concern for Mariam. When the female had lost in battle to Max, Ozuma had sent her a look of unimaginable hatred. That was probably how he actually felt. Mariam was nothing to him, a nodge in his bedpost. Dust on his shelf. Something to get in the way...

The BladeBreakers had been residing in their usual quarters, Mariam's bedroom with the door closed, not making any noise as not to be a bother. Though that was difficult. For Tyson. The moron had already upsat three candles (burning a large section of his fur off with the flame and ruining Mariam's carpet with the wax), stepped in nail polish and then walked around to leave black paw prints on Mariam's lyrics, and even nearly got himself sucked down the drain during their bath. He'd actually gotten stuck. Surprising, considering his size. Width-wise. He also got the late-night munchies and decided to get something to eat at half-past two in the morning. The dumbass walked on the radio button to get off the bed, blaring_ 'I like Big Butts and I can not lie!_' through the whole house. Things were falling apart, and Mariam's sanity couldn't last much longer. Neither could Ozuma's by the looks of it.

Ray was lying on the bed on his side, having a cat-nap. Max was on Mariam's bed-side table, staring out the window with paws on the window ledge and hind feet lifting him up from the table. Outside, he could see Mariam walk over to the beyblade dish and bend over to pick up SharKrash. The blade looked like it had obtained a fair bit of damage. Probably not near as much as Mariam's heart, Max thought. But, just as in to single Mariam's depressing loss, SharKrash seemed to glow and, even though it was across town, the boys could hear the ocean crash and churn. And then rain. Max whimpered as he watched Mariam place Sharkrash into her jacket pocket, and then look up at the sky longingly. The rain didn't seem to faze her, and the crash of the ocean, she was oblivious to. But none to the less, rain or not, a tear rolled down Mariam's cheek.

Max turned away from the window and jumped off the table. This was too much. Too much for him, for her, for Hilary... Man, everything seemed to have fallen apart. Mariam was suicidal, Hilary was in the hospital with a concussion because someone beat her in the head with a beer bottle, Kai's too 'I-Don't-Give-A-Damn' to give a damn, Tyson? Well, he's just Tyson, and Ray would maybe help when he could. They needed to do something...

* * *

Hilary sighed. She'd been in the hospital all week, and tonight was her release date! She could see her friends (while not confined to a bed), Tyson, and she could go home! Home... What was home to her now? Was she really supposed to go back to him? Her abusive father who hated her because she looked like her mother? Hilary sighed again, and turned to lay on her left side, facing the window. Hilary gazed out at the pouring rain. Freedom.

* * *

Mariam walked back into the house, careful to avoid Dunga's gaze.

"I wish he saw it from your point of view Mariam. But he doesn't. So smarten up. You know this is our mission." Mariam stopped walking for a second. But her eyes didn't meet Dunga's, who was seated on the couch facing the television in the center of the living room. Then she continued walking.

'Our mission... Is that really what's supposed to happen? I'm still supposed to steal Dragoon, Dranzer, Driger, and Draciel...? But they've been so kind to me, especially Max... How can I betray them?' Mariam grumbled when she shut her bedroom door behind her. 'Simple enough. I can't.'

Mariam pulled off her sweater, shook her head to get free of the rain's grasp, and then headed straight for the bathroom. Max gasped, and ran straight for the door. The poor dog got an awful snoutful. He whimpered, and began to claw at the door the best he could. Ray looked over worriedly. Tyson began to chew his food more slowly before finally swallowing it. Kai looked at Max for one second, before turning away again. It was hard to admit, it really was, but there was nothing they could do.

Mariam emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, hair brushed, and bracelets in place. Kai looked at her with almost an angry glare. Mariam didn't even acknowledge. But he knew she saw him, with those green eyes. Emerald eyes that could only be called green because they'd lost their shine... Mariam sat on her bed gently, and turned to lie down in a slow motion. Her arms hurt, her legs hurt, her wrists hurt... Everything hurt. But most of all, her feelings hurt. Mariam turned to look at the clock. Another hour and they'd have to go and get Hilary from the hospital. She spent a miserable week in the cold facility, all alone. She deserved some freedom. And, the boys too would soon be free. Kenny would be back in two days, and everything would be right with the world. KENNY! The cats! Mariam let out a squeal and bolted off the bed and out the door. The BladeBreakers looked up startled.

Mariam pretty much ran through the house door, and out and down the stairs. Ozuma was heading up them at the same time, and he got pushed off the balcony, him falling into the bushes below. Ozuma emerged from the bushes in a rage.

"MARIAM!" The angered boy ran after her eagerly. It was time to figure out her secrets.

Mariam rushed to Kenny's, and unlocked the door, slipping inside. The house was eerily silent. Gave her the creeps. But there, on the floor, was a cat. A dead one. Mariam could of cried. It was her fault! The other two were asleep on the couch, but one of the three was there, on the marble floor, not moving at all. Mariam gulped and walked over to the poor thing. Oh yeah. Died of starvation no doubt. Mariam turned and rammed her head into the dry wall of the Tamea house angrily.

"Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit...." But she finally gave it up when one of the remaining cats curled around her leg. Mariam smiled down at the lonely creature, and she picked it up gently, walking over to the cupboard. Mariam pulled the large bag of cat feed out and filled the dishes. Then, after putting the cat down to eat, she filled the water dishes. Now, time to tend to her dead little friend over there... Dude, what would Kenny say if he was here? Oh, he'd be so upset... Man, was he ever going to give it to Mariam for letting his cat die... Oh, she didn't want to think about it. Mariam sighed, and scooped the poor thing into her arms, carrying it outside to the Tamea's back yard, Mariam placed it on the ground behind the shed. Hey, every animal deserved a proper burial. By the time she was done, it was time to go meet Hilary.

Mariam would never forget the smile she had when she came running out through those hospital doors.


	9. WakeUp Call

Ozuma followed Mariam to the hospital doors, and watched as the now-hyper brunette flew out the double doors and into a collision course with Mariam's arms. She looked to be giddy with excitement. What had she been in the hospital for anyway? Ozuma didn't really care. But with Hilary around Mariam, he couldn't get the chance to 'talk' with Mariam alone. He would have to continue following them, and wait for the time when Mariam headed for home to ambush her. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"Oh, I'm so happy to be out of there!!!" Hilary grinned. Mariam shook her head at her hyper friend before smiling warmly.

"Do you feel better?"

"Well what do you think?" Mariam giggled slightly, and threw her arms around Hilary who was surprised, but happy to receive the hug. Both girls continued to stroll, Hilary carrying her backpack with all her hospital possessions in it. But soon, the jolly aura around the two lasses began to fade away as the sun began to set. Sadly, Hilary sighed as she supported herself using the metal guard rails fencing off the long drop down to the ocean below.

"I've missed my freedom so much... But I was, uh, wondering..." Mariam looked at Hilary vaguely as a blush began to tint her cheeks, "Did Tyson ask about me today?" Mariam 's stare turned into laughing eyes, but with a heart-felt smile.

"How could he ask about you Hil? He can't talk." Hilary smiled, and even forced a laugh. But as she turned away to stare at the sun setting beyond the horizon again, her smile was replaced by a frown. Mariam also didn't mean to upset her like that... Mariam turned to look at the sunset as well. "But I can tell he's worried." Hilary looked back to Mariam in a flash with a gaping mouth. The SaintShield was wearing a small smile, and Hilary watched as Mariam raised her arms and released her hair from it's hold. The violet strands flew out in all beautiful directions, and Hilary watched amazingly as Mariam's hair seemed to blend in with the ocean crashing below them. Hilary brought one of her own hands to her own hair, and felt the silky soft chocolate strands wrestling between her fingers, all the while being tousled by the sea wind. But Hilary's mind soon snapped back to normal as what Mariam said registered in her still mind.

"You're just saying that." Mariam looked at Hilary out of the corner of her eye.

"Sure, that's why Tyson walks around the room like a zombie, and only eats three times as much as the other animals." Hilary cracked a smile at that one, and once more, her smile turned to a frown as Mariam's smile went upside down.

"And how have you been?" Mariam's eyes scanned the horizon, as if waiting for the legendary Black Pearl to appear. (Hey, the guys turned into animals. Why not a ghost pirate ship?) Mariam didn't answer, she just rolled up the sleeve of her coat, shirt with it. Hilary's eyes bulged.

Her arm was nothing but red lines, some more vibrant than others. They were seeming to be cut left to right, straight. Hilary covered her mouth with her hands, especially at the newest one. It was red, the skin around it even more ghostly pale than Mariam's whole body. The wound was open, and it looked so painful.

"Please, tell me why!? I know Ozuma's been mean, but that's no reason to-"

"You have _no_ idea! Don't talk about which you know nothing!" Mariam began to walk away quickly. Hilary flinched at her painful words but followed anyway.

"Please, I need to know! I care about you, everyone does! Especially Max!" Mariam looked at her. But Hilary covered her mouth in shock at her own words.

"...What?" Hilary threw her arms to her sides in anguish.

"Why are you so **blind**?! It's so obvious, Mariam! So obvious... Just like I know Tyson loves me! And I love Tyson, there, I said it! Hope the whole world hears it!" Mariam watched Hilary with still eyes, before springing to life.

"**FUCK LOVE!** I don't need it! What do you think life is, some magical fairytale? Oh, Hilary, let me tell you, that's not how it works! Love... Love stinks." Mariam finished. Hilary gulped slightly and looked away before returning her attention back to Mariam.

"Let me tell you something; My mom said she loved me, she said she loved my father and then she left us! She left us for some other man, and because of her leaving, she died..." Hilary's voice quailed down at that last syllable, but soon flared up again. "But I guess that's just the way it is, and love doesn't always work!" She looked confused, but at the same time sad. Hilary huffed and walked over to the guard rail once again. Mariam followed.

"I don't understand."

"That's Love. I guess when you find Love it's really beautiful and I don't know much about it besides what I've heard in music, but I know there's a reason why everybody wants it so much! Love may not be a fairytale,... But it's the closest thing we have to magic." Mariam was slightly open mouthed, and was now facing the just-about-set sun. "Please don't give up yet."

Mariam faced Hilary with an unsure look in her eyes. But she nodded.

"Come on. The boys will be wanting to see you. Tyson might have worn a hole in the floor by now." Hilary smiled a toothy smile and followed Mariam at a leisurely jog back to the SaintShields' place.

* * *

Ozuma took a deep breath as he struggled to take in all the sudden information. Mariam was a cutter? Hilary's mother was dead? And the BladeBreakers were at his place? What the hell???!!! Ozuma shook his head quickly. Things were so fucked up these days... And what, like it was his fault Mariam was a cutter?!.... Was it?... The boy shook his head roughly, getting all the sad feelings out and replacing them with a positive (in his case) thought. Mariam.... , the girl has problems up to ying yang, there's nothing really wrong with her at all! She's just being her emo self! Ozuma growled as he rose out of the bushes and watched the duo run to his home. The sun's last light bathed the grumbling boy in an orange glow. But his eyes were seeing more red as he started a slow walk in the same direction.

* * *

Mariam and Hilary slipped off their shoes (allowing a couple minutes for Mariam to untie her Converse), since Hilary was wearing flip flops. Dunga looked up with a start as Mariam and Hilary joined arms and ran into her bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

"SAVE THE DOOR!" Dunga yelled.

Once inside, Mariam faced the closed cianwood door, and stuck her tongue out in an immature giggled before turning on her heel and looking into four pairs of glittering eyes.

The excited creatures bounded off the bed and onto Hilary with such force that she fell backwards, hitting her head in the wall.

* * *

"Oh god dammit, the animals are raping people again!" Joseph said, closing his magazine and walking out into the kitchen to grab a drink of water. Dunga followed the olive-haired boy with crazy eyes.

* * *

Hilary smiled and rubbed the bump growing on her head as Mariam laughed hysterically.

"Enough hits in the head for a life time, thanks!" She giggled and smiled. Tyson had nestled his little body in Hilary's hands as she raised the guinea pig to eye level. "You know, when you turn back into a human, I think we have a lot of things to talk about." Hilary placed a small kiss on Tyson's head, and the guinea pig's fur turned a cherry red. Mariam smiled sadly, and she walked over to her bed and sat down. Hilary continued being showered with loving licks and messy tongues, until she finally got the strength to push the ecstatic critters off. And,almost all of them gae her loving looks. Then just sat in her lap approvingly.

An hour passed, and there was a lot of discussing going on (between Hilary and Mariam anyway). Until the time came for Hilary to go... _Home._ The clock struck 12. Hilary's heart stopped, and it was clear to Tyson that tears were beginning to form in her ruby eyes.

"Where are you going?!" Mariam said, standing up as soon as Hilary headed for the door. Ray and Max leapt off the bed in effect also. Hilary turned to look at her friends with teary eyes.

"I have to go back. I have to make things right." Mariam nodded, and Hilary stepped a toe out the door before poking her head back in. "You know, I learned something. It's not where you are in life, or what your situtation is.... It's who you're with." Mariam nodded, and twirled a strand of her hair. Hilary smiled her toothy smile, and took off at a run. Mariam looked down and headed after her, pausing at the main door. Hilary was on the ground, and running for home. Mariam smiled as Hilary's voice rang out again.

"Meet me at Kenny's tomorrow at twelve sharp! Goodbye!" Mariam laughed and waved Hilary off with her whole arm before turning to walk back into the house. She slowly made her way back to her room, and shut her door easily this time.

* * *

Ozuma stepped out of the shadows of the spare room, and watched the dark red door close slowly.

* * *

Hilary crept into her house, looking for any and all signs of her father's being. There came a groan from the living room. Hilary turned slightly, and took a deep breath. The brunette stepped forward into the dim light of her kitchen. Her drunk father was there, slouched over the kitchen table, cigarette in one hand, beer in the other.

_"Daddy, I'm home."_ The man looked up suddenly, but still drunkily, he gazed at the new person in his home.

"Agnis? Agnis! I'm so happy you're-you're home!" her father began walking over to her, and wrapped Hilary in a hug. The crude smell of alcohol and smoke hurt her nose. She grumbled and pushed the old man off her, him falling to the floor without a fight. "What are you doing Ag-oh, Hilary... What the fuck are you doing up? And where have you been these last few days? The place is a fuckin' mess!" He yelled, now using the table to pull himself up on shaky legs. Before he was back on his feet, he made a grab for the front of Hilary's shirt. _Not this time._

Hilary quickly moved, and grabbed his arm, twisting it at a painful angle. He yelped in pain, and tried to pull his arm away. Hilary held fast.

"I'm tired of this, Dad. You have a problem. A serious problem, and it's hurting everyone around you! Dad, you haven't worked in weeks, and you wonder why we don't have money so you can buy more beer. Beer you don't fucking need by the way. Mom is gone, Dad, mom is gone. And it's about time you figured that out. I'm going to call the police now, Dad, and you'll spend the night in jail. Just so I can make my point." Hilary's father continued to pull backwards, but when Hilary let go to head for the phone, he tumbled over in a crash and a painful boom.

The beyblading co-trainer walked into the living room, stepping over broken beer bottle glass in her flip flops that she had 'forgotten' to take off. But the police, Hilary would say that she had an alcoholic family member who was a public disturbance and a harm to himself and others ... Success! The police would come as soon as they could. By the time Hilary turned around, her father was standing in the entry way.

"Why are you doing this? We're fine, blame your fucking mother for everything else!" he attempted to say. Hilary shook her head, and bent over to pick up the remnants of broken glass. She heard him sigh, and then she smiled upon hearing sweet, sweet police sirens.

"Your ride's here Dad." Hilary gave her father a victorious smirk. A knock at the door. Hilary whistled a refreshing tune and walked to the waiting policemen at the door. About five minutes later, her father has his angry face pressed to the window glass of a squad car as Hilary waved a cheery goodbye.

No more more pain. It felt good, she felt... Safe. The police had agreed to hold him longer if he was not sobered up and talking sense to their questions by the next day. The only thing Hilary didn't look forward to now was the mess she had to clean up in her 'house' if you could call it that. The glass, the sour aroma of alcohol and cigarette smoke, dishes that more than doubled Tyson's usual supper plates in the sink, and the house was just plain horrible. The brunette sighed, and set to work.

An hour later, around two in the morning, Hilary collapsed on the green sofa in exhaustion, but tonight was life changing. The memories were painful, but now, perhaps they would change to good. When her mother's new family was killed in a car accident things were bad enough. Her father had started drinking back then, and she guessed it pained him, or angered him, to see his daughter looking so much like the woman who broke his heart. But now, as Hilary thought about it, that gave her Dad no reason to break hers'. And now, with Hilary's anger and her friends' support, she found a new fuel, a new drive to make things better. That was all thanks to them. She could even be dead right now if it weren't for them,... _Tyson_. Hilary found herself blushing with a happy smile. The problems had been solved that quickly. Hilary knew her father was being taken care of, and she also knew she was loved... By none-other-than Champ. I guess suicide really wasn't the way. Things were brightening up now... BANG! Yes, her journal! The thought hit her like a bolt from the blue. She sat up suddenly, Hil parted the pillows on the couch and removed her CD for a new addition;

_October 26,2006 _

_It's all over! Everything! I'm so relieved! Dad is finally getting the help he needs, my house looks liveable, and my song is almost complete! Tonight, I will finish the remaining verses. I have them all here, right in my head. I had to search hard. There were so many words I wanted to say to make it right, I did! I actually did! Now I only have one problem... I can't sing for shit, so who's going to actually bring my song to life? Well, I'll find way, oh, today is such a glorious day to be alive! Oh, and guess what? I GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL! YEAHHHHH! Wo0t! I'm very happy! It should be obvious, Mariam and Tyson stood by me the whole time. They did. I'm so happy. Now I can't believe I ever thought about suicide. Never again.__** Never again**__. Now, I only have one last thing to say before I finish my final, that's right, final, journal entry: It's two weeks from October twelveth, the day Tyson, Kai, Ray and Max became their animal counterparts...__** WELCOME HOME KENNY!**_

Hilary smiled and placed the slip of paper into the CD case before closing it, then walking out to the kitchen and dumping it into the trash can.

* * *

Mariam gave a pained yelp as Ozuma pushed her into the wall outside their house.

"Start explaining." The angered leader said as he pulled Mariam's sleeve up her arm, letting her cuts get acquainted with the cold night air. The night was cold indeed, and besides the rustling noise being caused by those two, the night was still and peaceful.

"Please, stop, I'm sorry for whatever I did!" Mariam turned her head away from him, and Ozuma lost sight of her emerald eyes. Then, something snapped. Ozuma's gaze softened as he heard Mariam's sadness. In pure shock, Ozuma stepped back, letting go of her gently. She sank to the ground, obviously scared and gulped.

'I only thought pushing her harder and keeping her brother away from her would inspire her to do better...' Ozuma cringed at Mariam's crying. He'd never seen his teammate so broken, so defeated. He gulped once. It really was his fault. Why she grew so away and distant... He thought maybe being harder on the team would inspire them. It worked for Dunga, and even Joseph was improving. But no, for Mariam, things just kept getting worse and worse. He thought she was going through a rebellious faze, just didn't want to take training. So,as punishment, he layed it on thicker than normal. All those threats of removal from the team, that stuff was all _false!_ He'd never really do that.. To his friend. He closed his eyes, and sank to his knees, now facing Mariam's quivering form in the soft grass.

"I'm sorry." Mariam refused to look at him; She just kept her gaze looking away, somewhere toward the ocean, where maybe magic did exist? She resisted the urge to shake her head. Mariam's leather tie-up vest was draped over one shoulder now, and her emo locks covered her eyes. Good. She didn't want Ozuma to see her cry... But it was a little too late, as another tear fell onto a blade of grass, and Mariam found Ozuma's regretful arms around her. "I'm sorry..."

* * *

Hilary relaxed on the couch again, and placed the new song on the coffee table in front of her. The brunette wiped her forehead and sighed. You ever heard of someone getting exhausted writing a song? She sighed, she had been working hard all day...

There came a knock at the door for the second time that night. Hilary looked toward the door curiously before arising off the couch and heading to answer it. She pulled open the door.

"Hey."

"Hey! Come in, come in, don't stand around in the cold!" Hilary scooted Mariam into the house quickly, and put on a victorious smile as Mariam's eyes quickly adjusted to the new 'clean' surroundings.

"Hilary, wow, the place looks great!" Mariam said happily. Hilary smiled and nodded, before patting the couch for Mariam to sit down.

"I hope you know I can tell you've been crying." Hilary said, her smile fading almost instantly. Mariam's did too, and the SaintShield sighed.

"Yeah, I'm not explaining everything." Mariam and Hilary sat and talked for the next hour or so, neither minding the time. Mariam would have to spend the night. Hilary was soon lost in deep yawns and her eyes were fluttering shut. Mariam smiled.

"Lay down if you're so tired." Hilary smiled gratefully, and stretched out comfortably on her sofa.

"I probably won't be able to sleep anyway." She said, a bright smile still on her features.

"Excited? Me too!" Mariam laughed, but Hilary's laugh turned out to be more of a yawn. "Well get some sleep. I'll be fine. I think I'll just watch some TV or something." Mariam said, reaching across the coffee table for the remote control. Hilary grumbled.

"I can't sleep. Sing me a lullaby." Mariam looked up quickly. She blushed, but Hilary didn't retract her sentence. "Please?" Mariam sighed, and leant back into the love seat.

"What should I sing?" Hilary's tired eyes sparkled.

"Anything you want." Mariam thought for a moment before she began to sing. And Hilary had never heard something so beautiful in her life.

_"I'll be your dream I'll be your wish I'll be your fantasy,  
__I'll be your hope I'll be your love be everything that you need.  
__I'll love you more with every breath truly, madly, deeply too.  
__I will be strong I will be faithful; because I'm counting on a new beginning,  
__A reason for living, a deeper meaning yeah..._

_I wanna stand with you on a mountain,  
__I wanna bathe with you in the sea.  
__I wanna lay like this forever,  
__until the sky falls down on me._

_And when the stars are shining brightly in the velvet sky,  
__I'll make a wish send it to heaven, that'll make you want to cry.  
__The tears of joy for all the pleasure and the certainty, that we're surrounded by the comfort and protection  
__Of the highest power, and lonely hours,  
__The tears divide you._

_I wanna stand with you on a mountain,  
__I wanna bathe with you in the sea.  
__I wanna lay like this forever,  
__Until the sky falls down on me._

_Oh, can't you see it baby?  
__Don't have to close your eyes,  
__Cause it's standing right before you.  
__All that you need will surely come."_

Mariam stopped singing and smiled at Hilary's sleeping form before quietly turning on the television and watching it. Looking forward to tomorrow, when everything would be normal again.


	10. Animal City

Mariam woke up to the sun shining brightly through Hilary's living room window. Mariam rubbed her tired eyes and then looked toward the couch, only to see that Hilary was already up and about. Mariam sighed, and pushed her still tired form off the love seat. The TV she had been watching last night was now shut off. Mariam walked around the edge of the table, and toward the stairs.

"Hilary?" Mariam called softly. "Hilary are you up there?" Mariam called again, taking a few slow paces up the carpeted steps, looking at the photos on the walls at the same time. Mariam saw one with what looked to be a young Hilary, held by the shoulders caring by her father, and a woman with brown hair that looked like Hilary's. Mariam scanned the picture up and down.'That must be her mother...' Mariam looked forward again, and continued her walk. "Hey, Hil?" Mariam said, a little louder. Mariam was just about at the top of the stairs now. Only one more to go.

"Good morning! Were you looking for me???" Mariam gave a squeak of surprise, and fell backwards down the stairs. Hilary flinched as she heard the thumping of what was probably Mariam's head finding it's way to the bottom of the staircase. When it finally stopped, Hilary heard an exasperated moan."Aha, hey Mariam, you alive down there?" Hilary asked nervously, taking a step down the stairs. Hilary smiled when Mariam's form appeared to continue the walk back up the stairs. Mariam smiled jokingly.

"You scared the shit out of me!" She exclaimed funnily. Hilary giggled.

"Come on up to my room." And with that, Hilary turned on her heels and jogged back towards the end of the upstairs corridor, Mariam tagging behind a little slower. When they reached Hilary's room, Mariam collapsed on the bed, back first, arms splayed out around her. Hilary was flipping through some papers while leaning on her dresser.

"So, it's almost twelve. I guess we should head back over to my place and get the guys?" Hilary looked up cheerily and nodded.

"Why didn't you bring them with you last night? Wouldn't you be scared Ozuma or Dunga or even Joseph would let them out or something? Remember what happened the last time Ray got out?" Hilary said between giggles. Mariam giggled back.

"I wouldn't worry. No one's going to bother them." Mariam said, bringing her fingers to her lips.

"How can you be so sure?" Hilary said, tapping the papers on the desk to straighten them out.

"I locked them in my closet."

"What???!!!" Hilary said, exploding into laughter. Mariam soon joined in.

"I had no where else to put them!" Mariam said, now holding her stomach in a fit of laughing. Both girls finally stopped laughing, and Hilary returned her eyes to the papers again.

"Here, I have something to show you." Hilary walked over and took a seat on the bed next to Mariam.

* * *

Man, I am _so _going to kill Mariam! Max said, sitting in the corner of Mariam's closet, sulking. Kai said nothing, just sat and waited patiently. The guinea pig thought he was going to die of starvation. And the cat? Well, he was just annoyed. Actually, a little more than a little annoyed. He was ready to technically claw Mariam's eyes out. Ray let out a hiss at the abrupt opening of the closet door. The 4 of them didn't even wait to see who it was, they just darted out of that closet faster than a normal person would expect an animal to go. Mariam and Hilary giggled.

"Heyya guys!! Ready to get transformed back into humans??" Hilary said enthusiastically. Even Kai squeaked. Hilary giggled, and gathered the bunch into her arms. Mariam walked back out from the closet, with her guitar case on her shoulder. The girls smiled at eachother, and they ran out of Mariam's room and out the door. While running,

"Hey, Mariam?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you been feeding Kenny's cats?" Mariam stopped.

"Well, Hilary, about that..."

* * *

Kenny walked through his house doors, smiling as his two cats ran to meet him, then placed his suitcases on the ground. Kenny was almost run over when Mariam and Hilary stampeded into the house.

"Woah woah woah! I missed you guys a lot too!" The girls dropped the boys, and spun around.

"Geeze Kenny we didn't even see you there!" Hilary said. She and Mariam ran right over, and... Smothered Kenny with kisses on his cheeks. Max barked rudely. Tyson looked irritated. Kai was getting a kick out of the whole thing. Ray was doing some bonding with Kenny's female cat. Kenny's other cat... Was eyeing Tyson in a way no animal deserves to be eyed.

"Anyway Chief, we have an issue." Mariam said, crossing her arms over her black tank top. Kenny raised a brow at her. Mariam shrugged toward Hilary as she came back to Kenny, carrying Tyson.

"Say Hi to Kenny Tyson!" Hilary said as she held the rodent an inch from Kenny's face. The boy went pale, and screamed bloody murder.

"MY EXPERIMENTS! MY PRECIOUS EXPERIMENTS!!!!" Hilary and Mariam sat on Kenny's bed while Kenny spazzed over the long-gone experiments. "But you're lucky." Both girls looked up with a start. So did the boys. Hilary had to keep Tyson in her arms and out of the reach of a hungry feline who was most definitely not Ray. Mariam had to keep Ray and Max in her arms, to stop they from trying to chase Kenny's remaining cats. "I expected this to happen. So I made an antidote while I was away." Everyone sweatdropped at Kenny's quick change of mood. "Follow me up to my room." Everyone did as they were told.

Once they had reached Kenny's room, Kenny lined Tyson, Kai, Ray and Max into a straight line on the floor, all an equal distance apart. Then, with Hilary and Mariam grasping eachother's hands in anticipation and nervousness, Kenny pulled a light pink glowing vile out of his pocket. Kenny stood in front of the 4 animals, giving each a mysterious look. The boys didn't notice however; They were deep in thought.

_I can't believe it..._ Max thought.

_This is it..._ Ray thought.

_Now I'm going to be fat again.._. Tyson worried.

_FINALLY!_ Kai's mind screamed. Then, out of what seems like no where, Kenny threw the pink serum over the BladeBreakers.

"Alakazoo, I'll make people out of YOU!"

And with a great pink BOOM!, and a mass of swirling glitter and magic, were 4 boys where 4 critters once stood.

Ray took a deep breath, and slowly ran his hands through his raven hair. He smiled his catty smile.

Max laughed childishly, and looked down at his stomach.

Kai crossed his arms, and walked over to Kenny's wall .He leant back on it. Then smiled his regular smirk.

Tyson spun around in a circle, quick as the muscle.

"Is it me? Is it really me?" Tyson hugged himself, and felt his ass. "Yeah, it's me!" He whooped. Hilary squealed in delight and ran to him, embracing him warmly. Tyson threw his arms around her nimble frame, and lifted her off the ground. Mariam smiled. And felt she too was being lifted off the ground by none other than Max. Mariam could hear his cheery laugh, and that made her smile brighter.

"Oh Max, I missed you!" She said happily, locking her arms around his neck. Max laughed cheerily.

"I missed you too!" But suddenly, Mariam saw the bright light leave from Max's eyes. "But we need to talk." Mariam looked down and nodded, in despair. But before Mariam could turn to talk to someone else, Max had her pulled close to his body once again. Mariam rested her arms on Max's shoulders. The blonde boy took Mariam's chin in his hand, and leant a little downward. Closer, closer,....

"Hey, I know, let's go celebrate!" Hilary said, taking Kai and Tyson by the arms. Max and Mariam pulled back, and blushed.

"Sure, sounds good. But Mariam, why did you bring your guitar?" Ray asked, eyeing Mariam's guitar case curiously. Mariam smirked, and turned to Hilary. The brunette winked cunningly.

"Let's go to the club. They're having karaoke night tonight!" Hilary said enthusiastically. Kai groaned, but allowed Hilary to drag him towards the door. But once Kai was nearly at the bottom of the steps, he pulled his rm from Hilary's grasp. And strangely, Hilary almost smiled. She still had Tyson to hang onto.

Kai waited for Mariam, Max and Ray to reach his standing point on the stairs before grasping Mariam's wrist. Kai loosened his grip when she flinched. Max and Ray turned around to see the commotion, and Kai just sent them a nod, telling them to go on ahead. Max knew better than to hang around when he told them to go, so with a concerned glance in Mariam's direction, he walked on ahead with Ray at his side.

"Kai?" Mariam said, looking up instead of down and at a human face for once. His cold crimson eyes had appeared to lose their frost...

"How are you?" Mariam scanned the stairwell with her eyes, pretty much anything to keep them from settling on Kai's eyes again. She sighed.

"As good as can be expected." She said, failing in her attempts to avoid eye contact. He cocked an eyebrow.

"That's not good enough." Mariam bit her lip.

"We worked it out-" But Kai cut Mariam off by walking on down the stairs. Mariam stared after him, confused. He turned around then, his white scarf shifting slightly due to the whisp of the breeze.

"Okay. I just needed to draw an explanation out of you. It was Ozuma and the rest of the SaintShields all along..." Kai trailed off, before continuing on his way down and out the door. Mariam huffed. Then smirked, adjusting the guitar strap around her shoulder and jogged to catch up with the rest.

The club was a crowded place, but not too crowded. There was enough space to move around, and on the stage; And that was all Hilary and Mariam needed. People were chatting, all sitting at a few little tables while others stood around the entrance and talked with virgin drinks in their hands.

"You guys wait here; Me and Mariam need to do something!" Hilary said, pushing Tyson to sit in a chair next to an empty booth. Mariam and Hilary giggled, before running off.

"What's with them?" Ray asked, shaking his head ruefully while taking a seat at the table also. Kai stood behind them, watching the action and observing his surroundings. Max and Kenny too had taken seats at the circular table. The boys began to chat, mostly about their experiences of the animal instinct; But all 5 of them adverted their attention to the stage when a loud, piercing, screech tore through the club. Kai flinched.

"Youch!" Tyson said, gritting his teeth and covering his ears. And Hilary came trotting back then, ducking and dodging tables and people while hastily trying to make her way back to her friends. Tyson blushed when she sat in his lap. Max giggled, and Ray just rubbed the bridge of his nose. About TIME that happened. But the light chatter of asking Hilary what the hell was going on was ruined as the MC for the club took the stage, and semi-bright spotlights shined upon him.

"Goodnight ladies and gentleman! Welcome to our karaoke night! The performer coming up next is a first timer here, so I hope you all make her feel comfortable!"

""Hey Hilary, where'd Mariam go?" Max asked, scanning the crowd with his azure eyes. Hilary giggled, and pointed towards the stage.

"Please welcome, Mariam Carey!" The MC said, and walked off the stage. Max's jaw hit the stained floor. Ray's golden eyes widened. Kai smirked.

'This is going to be good...'.

Mariam took a seat on a stool in front of the mic and put her hand to her guitar strings.

"Hello everyone. I'd like to perform a song for you tonight written by a close friend of mine, and it's dedicated to more friends of mine. I'll be singing while playing my guitar." Mariam shook her loose hair, and it fell in perfect straight lines against her emerald eyes. Mariam took a deep breath, and, feeling shocked eyes on her, began to play.

_Why do all my friends now want to be your lovers?  
__Your family got bigger when they thought you were rich.  
__And now like maniacs, they scratch your back,  
__Even when it doesn't itch._

_I want to figure it all, I want to figure it all out.  
__I want so save you from, save you from all that's vain.  
__Save you, from the things that cause us pain._

_Cause it's an Animal City, it's a cannibal world;  
__So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to bite you.  
__It's an Animal City, it's a cannibal world;  
__So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to rip you right off._

_They believe you now have everything you wanted.  
__And once you have become a star, you've got no right to bitch.  
__But someday when you fail, they'll put you on sale,  
__And buy you by the inch._

_But you're the real deal  
__And real is your middle name.  
__you know sometimes I feel,  
__we've got to earn every breath we take, baby,  
__never mind the rules we break._

_Cause it's an Animal City, it's a cannibal world;  
__So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to bite you.  
__It's an Animal City, it's a cannibal world;  
__So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to rip you right off._

_With you I feel safe, there's nothing to fear from us.  
__Away from the fangs, the fangs of the world.  
__I may be a coward but you were brave;  
__And nothing seemed so dangerous._

_Cause it's an Animal City, it's a cannibal world;  
__So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to bite you.  
__It's an Animal City, it's a cannibal world;  
__So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to rip you right off._

_Cannibal world._

_Cannibal world._

_Cannibal world._

_So be obedient, don't argue,  
__some are ready to bite you my love._

The crowd erupted into applause and cheer, and Mariam soothed her exhausted voice and rested her tired fingers. Tyson tightened his hold on Hilary's waist, and drew his lips to meet hers ever so lovingly. Max and Kai applauded with great joy, whooping and yelling. Ray and Kenny sat; stunned. Then, Ray smiled when Max got up to run and meet Mariam as she got off the stage.

Perhaps everyone got their fairytale after all.


End file.
